The Shadow of Remnant
by Antakai
Summary: Huntresses and Huntsmen that defend mankind as beacons to rally behind. Meanwhile, criminals and dark forces exploit and cause suffering for mankind. For one teen who's been drowning in the dark among monsters wearing human skin, he gets the chance to switch sides. OC char integrated into the story. First story by the author. (Re-uploaded with some additional changes.)
1. Chapter 1

**Author's Note (will be A/N in the future): I had actually abadoned this a while ago, simply because of personal issues but I decided to upload this on my own account now! Like I said the last time, this is my first fanfic, so bear with me please!**

**This fanfic is inspired by another discontinued (I believe it is) fanfic. "Of Heroes and Monsters" by Yiuceht. I hope this will be a regular thing I can do to enjoy my time and I hope anyone that reads this enjoys as well. I do not own RWBY or any content I may add in the future. Reviews are strongly desired. Thank you and without further adieu-**

**The Shadow of Remnant**

…

Chapter 1

The crackle of a whip cries out like the clap of thunder.

_Why?_

A painfilled scream cuts through the sound of sobbing.

_It hurts._

Another crack of the same, bloodied whip strikes out across a young boy's back.

_What did I ever do to deserve this?_

An ugly, already bloody gash opens on the boy's back as the assailant takes a moment.

_I can't control it… it's just who I am._

Raven black hair hangs down as the boy, his crimson eyes almost glowed in the dark, dank room he was kept in. His home. The only room he's ever known for his short 5 years of being at this accursed place.

_Humans… Faunus… they all hate me. Why?_

The boy's wrists are chained to opposite walls, leaving him kneeling and his arms out as if to embrace nothing. All he could feel was the searing pain, the blinding pain throbbing across his back. Tears, as usual, and expected, stream from those innocent eyes.

_Just let it stop… I want it to stop…_

The boy doesn't hear what his assailant is doing anymore. Just the deafening roar of pain in his ears. It completely blinds his senses. He just wants it to stop. He hangs his head once again, letting the chains hold most of his weight. But his few moments of reprieve are cut short as his assailant grabs his chin. They force him to look up, and the boy can't help but scream again as he sees the cold steel in his assailant's hand. They say something about his eyes, about how he's a demon. About how he killed his parents.

_I wouldn't kill them… I didn't do anything to them…_

And with nothing left to say, the boy's assailant brings down the knife. But it wasn't in a stab, it was in a deliberately slow cut. Cutting into the flesh above his right eye and digging into his socket. He screams and screams and screams. He tries to shake and get away, but his assailant's grip is like iron. It keeps digging, digging and carving away at the innocent flesh. Even when the boy did try to shake and get away, it'd only make it worse. The pain was unspeakable. Indescribable. Blinding. Literally. The boy passed out several times, but always coming back moments later to that pain. As what felt like an eternity pass, his assailant carved out his right eye entirely. Leaving just an empty ugly socket.

_**They should all just die…**_

…

A lone, deep red eye opens lazily. That wasn't the first time he's relieved that. And it wouldn't be the last… he wouldn't get a last until he finally dies. But death is terrifying. What is on the other side? The afterlife? Some sort of heaven? Would he see his parents? The people he's killed and dyed their bloods on his hands? Or a void maybe? Nothingness. Just, nothing. The unknown is frightening to anyone. Including Obsidian Slade.

The 18-year-old rises from the couch, giving a little stretch to pop a few joints before fully rising. He wears a skin-tight wet suit, it seems to cover his entire body up to his jawline. But, the suit is cut off at his right shoulder. His right arm covered in all-consuming darkness if one were to look hard enough. Comparable to that of the Grimm. The horrible, vile and monstrous creatures that hunt and kill humans. He looks around the dingy little backroom, just a couch and a small table accompanying it as the only furniture. A set of 3 windows running from the roof and down 3 feet to let natural light in. It was still dark outside, but that suited him just fine. He never slept well anyway.

Nonetheless, he wasn't going back to sleep so he might as well just get geared up and see if Junior has anything for him. So, the young man steps over to the table. Reaching first for his shoulder and arm armor. Putting on the thick and weighty gauntlet to his left arm. It did cover his forearm, but he also had some plating for the back of his hand. The few scuffs and marks on it showing that he uses that arm to guard and it has seen its fair share of action. Next, he grabs the shoulder guard, shaped for flexibility above all else. He buckles the strap across his torso as he should and tightened it to stay in place. Next up was his breast and back plate armor. It wasn't thick, but it was meant to be light. Hopefully thick enough to ward off glancing strikes at his body. He diligently straps on the armor, bringing the cloth hood that was clipped to the backplate to hang loosely around his neck. Next, he grabs a pair of black combat boots and slips into them before tying them tightly. Finally, for his armor, he grabs a pair of shin guards and straps them on easily. His armor didn't shine, he wasn't a beacon of light like Huntsmen or Huntresses. His armor was like the rest of him, dark and rough. It was an ashy grey, close to black with a brushed finish. Aimed to blend in well with the shadows and not attract too much attention.

And lastly, what has kept him alive all these years. A short sword. It wasn't flashy or had guns like all the Huntsmen and Huntresses or other criminals in this godforsaken world. But it worked. And it worked well for him. It was only about half a meter long, styled like a katana but more along the lines of a longer tanto than anything. Except it had no hilt, but he preferred that. Hilts didn't feel right, the balance felt wrong to him. So, he stuck with what he's comfortable with. His unsheathes the blade, the low scraping of metal on his wooden sheath filling the room. It was polished steel, glinting in the moonlight as he admires it. It has served him well; the young man gives an appreciative nod before sheathing it and mounting it on his belt. Another thing he got proficient with was throwing knives. He always held two pouches on either thigh and both held 8 knives each.

He grabs his rucksack, a small bag with one strap that looked like it was ready to just split open. He didn't really have much in there though so what did it matter. He reaches in and fishes inside for a moment before pulling out a featureless mask for the lower half of his face. He gives a shrug before putting it back in the bag and stepping out of the room. Walking down the following hallway, he can start to hear the beats of dance music. And a door later, he finds himself in the club owned by Hei "Junior" Xiong.

"Looks like sleeping beauty is up."

"My name is Obsidian, Junior. You know this." The young man annoyedly retorts, taking a seat at the bar. Obsidian sets down his rucksack and brings up his hood, covering the messy mop of ashy grey and black hair. The shadow seems to grow and writhe before covering the top half of his face. Covering that ugly scar, the horrible smooth skin that covered his right eye. No eyelid just deformed skin that looked grafted over what was once his right eye. While that other eye seems to glow with cold intent to kill.

"Still freaky how you can do that Obsidian…" Junior seems to physically shudder, he liked the kid. Kind of. He was quiet, and he isn't rude, he just keeps to himself. Obsidian Slade was a name that crossed Junior's path more than once when Junior was setting up operations. But it didn't take long before the young man sought Junior out. Junior would set up some clients for Obsidian and get a small finders fee. That kid made Junior a lot of damn money.

Obsidian, on the other hand, didn't answer that, merely looking off to the left, across the busy club. Obsidian was known throughout the Kingdoms before he met Junior. A young man, no, a kid that could do what he could? That wasn't common. And the names some people would whisper in fear in the night makes waves.

"Got any clients around?"

Junior takes a moment before shrugging, "yeah, there's one. Real weird guy. Roman Torchwick. He's pretty popular on the news right now."

"Work's work."

"Well, he's sitting in the corner with that half-half girl."

Obsidian gives a nod, grabbing his half mask from his knapsack and placing it comfortably on his lower face. He slings the knapsack over his shoulder as he walks over.

"**Junior says you're looking for me. Got some work for me?**"

Roman blinks at the _kid _that approaches him. He gives him a look up and down before blinking again when his eyes land on that lone, glowing eye. "Uhhh…. Yeah. Are you the Shadow Demon dude?"

"**Yes.**"

"Huh…. thought you'd be taller."

"**…..**"

"Oookay, let's go then. Hey Junior! I'm talking a couple of your boys and this guy!"

…

Roman Torchwick, in his immaculate white suit and signature cane with a bowler hat, strolls down the street. Smoking on a cigar while he made his way to his target along with 4 of Junior's lackeys. The people just living their lives quickly scurried out of the way of the armed group. Clearly, they weren't around for sightseeing. The group made their way to the end of the street where the "From Dust Till Dawn" shop sits cozily.

The robbers barging in, Roman with a large grin on his face at all that free dust. "Do you have any idea how hard it is to find a dust shop open this late?"

The old, frail man behind the counter cowers, putting his hands up as one of the lackeys pulls a gun on him. "Please, just take the lien!"

"Shhh, shhh, shhh… we're not here for the money." He turns to the lackeys behind them, giving them a nod. "Take the dust."

With that, the men in their black and red suits make for the dust. Taking them in canisters and storing them in crates near the entrance. One man looking around the store to find a girl at the back, just standing there with her hood up.

"Alright kid put your hands where I can see em!" He pulls his sword, raising it to the girl's back as he steps closer. With no response, he feels his eye twitch.

"Hey, I said hands in the air! You got a death wish or something?!" The lackey tries again, but again. Just oblivious. He grabs her shoulder and turns her around. The girl then removing her hood to show the black and red hair hidden underneath. A moment later, she takes off the headphones.

"Yes?"

"I said put your hands in the air now!"

"Are you… robbing me?"

"Yes!"

"Ohh…."

…

Obsidian sat atop the rooftop of a building across the street from the From Dust Till Dawn shop. His lone, crimson eye gazing up at the moon before returning to the little book he held. In the book, he was drawing the shattered moon. Each fragment and each glowing piece among the dark sky. It was funny… something that shone so bright, but it only ever showed itself in the darkness. That ancient little fairy-tale always coming to mind when he draws the moon. The man rose from the darkness, to become a beacon of light is the gist of it. It told him something though, mankind will not shine or be good unless there's no hope. Unless there's just darkness.

And then the shattering of glass broke him from his reveries. He looks down at the street below to find one of Junior's men splayed out on the ground. And some little girl in red holding a scythe taller than her. Obsidian gives a sigh before putting his pencil and artbook away. He looks back up at the moon and disappears into the shadows with but a step. The young man reappearing, fully in his visage of the Shadow Demon, at the front of the From Dusk Till Dawn shop.

"**Finish up your business, Torchwick. I'll take care of this one…**"

Ruby Rose was so excited, she could read magazines and the old man didn't mind her in the store! She didn't have the money to buy them, unfortunately. And then she's suddenly about to get robbed! But they didn't know she was a Huntress-in-training. So, after she sent the man sailing out of the window with her feet planted on his chest she got ready for a fight. Pulling out Crescent Rose to its full form. But nothing could really prepare the young 15-year-old girl for this man.

That suit, the hood, the armor, that sword, those knives, that mask but it was the lone glowing red eye that put fear in her heart. Even someone as young as her has seen this man on the news more than once. He was one of the most wanted criminals in all of Remnant. And that voice, it was so calm yet held the cold and sharp tone of a killer. The hollowness added by the mask didn't help the shivers trying to run down her spine. But she wouldn't back out and run! Someone needed her help!

And so, the young Ruby fired off a round from Crescent Rose to propel herself forward at the man in front of her. She aimed for a swing to his right side, the massive scythe coming around rapidly. He wasn't moving it should be-and then a blackened hand is holding onto Crescent Rose before she could follow through. He did seem phased, he stepped forward, grabbing the shaft of her scythe mid-swing and stopping the swing entirely. Some people might think its easy to step in and stop something like that. But to step into a potential harm, its against the body's every survival instinct. Avoid death. Avoid getting maimed. And he moved like it was really nothing to be afraid of as a war scythe came at you.

"**Little girls shouldn't be out this late. And not trying to get rough with guys like this. Leave.**"

Ruby tried hard to swallow the lump in her throat, he caught it like it was nothing. He predicted the attack and countered it so easily. She pulled the trigger again on Crescent Rose, breaking it from the man's grip and putting her into a spin. She swung her scythe with that added momentum at his midsection. The world around her blurred with the speed and upon finishing the follow through, she took her ready stance again. But found he was fine? Just standing there as if nothing happened. Then she saw that haunting image, his midsection did seem to be split in half. But there was no blood. No guts. He was bifurcated but his body was in place. His stomach was see through? No, it was like he wasn't real. Tendrils licked at each other between the two parts of man, taking several moments before returning to one another and creating a whole being.

"**Leave.**"

"No! What you're doing is wrong!" Her high-pitched voice pierces the street as she tries to reaffirm her heart. "I can't just let someone suffer while I can help! I'm a Huntress-in-training!"

She had a few options; keep trying to fight the Shadow Demon, leave like he says or stop the clock by taking care of the robbers still taking dust. She chose option 3. Activating her semblance, she turned into a red bullet. Careening in an arc to make it around the mercenary to get inside the store and take care of the armed robbers. Just a quick few hits should- and suddenly a powerful grip took her cape and pulled her down to the ground. She falls hard on her butt and Crescent Rose falls from her grasp.

"**You'll need to be a lot faster than that, Red.**"

Ruby's silver eyes open to find the cold and shine of steel pointed at her face. That terrifying red eye looking down at her with what looks like contempt. She felt that crippling fear take hold of her poor heart. She's had this before when her sister had taken her to go look for their mother. She didn't really know what was happening but the howling and the crimson red eyes of Grimm is something any child can understand. Thankfully Uncle Qrow was there to save them but, he wasn't here now.

Obsidian had anything but contempt in his mind. This little, young girl that trained and fought. Sure, he had only stopped two of her attempts. But he could see how shaken she was after both failed attempts, he wanted to make sure she'd leave. She'd get out with the fear of death in her heart.

"Hey! We're getting outta here!"

Obsidian takes a moment to turn and regard his client, the orange haired man scurrying off with his tail between his legs. With that moment of distraction, Ruby used her semblance to rush over to her weapon and gets back into a stance. She's gotten around the mercenary with her back to the old man. "Are you going to be okay?" She looks over her shoulder, the old and fragile man giving a nod.

Obsidian sees it, that bright light among the darkness. He can't help but let out a hollow scoff. As usual, he was that darkness incarnate. But he couldn't be prepared for an invisible force sending him into a nearby light post. He grunts as he keeps his weapon in an iron grip while he recovered. That kind of hurt.

That lone crimson orb finding the source of that force. Glynda Goodwitch. Of course, it was her of all people. "What are _you _doing here, Shadow Demon?" The blonde Huntress spits his moniker out like venom. Her emerald eyes shining with true contempt for the man before her.

"**Work. You know I'm not out like this unless I'm paid to. Now if you're here… where's Ozpin? Is the Great and Terrible headmaster just sitting in his clocktower? Just letting you clean up his city?**" Obsidian really did worry that Ozpin might have caught wind of this and come down. Glynda Goodwitch he might be able to fight off but not someone like Ozpin.

Glynda's eye twitches and with a wave of her crop, the concrete between them cracks and shatters. Another wave raises shards of rock from the ground and a third wave sends them sailing at the young man. With no hesitation, Obsidian moves. His once shining sword cuts through the shards of rock as he sprints for the Huntress. That sword of his now didn't shine but seemed to swallow the light around it. The blade was a deep, hungry darkness as he quickly approaches the Huntress and the Huntress-in-training.

_**'Fight…'**_

He never made a move to attack Ruby in their little scuffle, just neutralize and threaten. But he is fast. Faster than her she thinks, he seemed to blink in and out of existence. His very being nothing but a shimmer to her eye. And then his full form appears in front of the blonde Huntress, his sword poised to strike her down. But she reacted quickly. A barrier erecting in front of her to keep the boy back. Another wave of her crop forms storm clouds above him. Mere moments later, sharp ice shards hail down upon where he is. And just like he did against Ruby. He seemed to turn into something fake, like nothing more than a shadow.

And that's when it dawns on the young Huntress-in-training. His title as the Shadow Demon wasn't for show. It was his semblance, it had to be. He could turn into shadows or something like that to dodge attacks. Once again, he stood down the street from the pair. That menacing red eye glowing in the darkness. She could see the glint of his blade again, but he was sheathing it for some reason. The young Huntress felt her blood run cold when she heard the click of a sword getting sheathed more than once. She looks around and can see 5 other figures, all of them seemed to be cloaked in shadow just like the one down the street. And all of them had that same terrifying glowing eye.

Glynda knew she could handle herself well in almost all situations. But here, she felt at a loss. 6 figures, all of them approaching slowly to her, the owner of the dust shop and this little girl that looked like she didn't know what to do. And the red-clad girl was panicking. She turns to her, "you're a Huntress-in-training, young lady. You can't panic right now. Protect the civilian. And don't let him get hurt."

That seems to have done something at least, the clear fear and shock in those silver eyes gave way to a determined fire. Glynda gives a nod and turns back to their assailant. Or was it multiple? She frowned deeper, pushing up her glasses with one hand while giving her crop a quick thrust with the other. A powerful and oppressive burst of wind howls throughout the intersection of the street. It nearly knocks Ruby and the old man off their feet. But the figures keep advancing.

And when the wind dies down, the figures make their collective move. Running full sprint at the trio, shadowy hands grasping at the throwing knives on their thighs. Ruby thinks fast, she moves to stand guard at one side while Glynda was at the other. The old frail man behind them quivered in his shoes. And once again with collective movements, they all throw a volley of knives at the Huntress and Huntress-in-training.

The pair of female warriors move immediately to block; Glynda uses her semblance to bring up shards of concrete before to let the knives dig into the stone. While Ruby twirled her scythe with incredible skill and practice to block the other half of knives. Ruby's eyes widen as a pair of figures make it to her, both their swords drawn already and cocked back intent to cut her into 3 pieces.

But Ruby has trained and trained hard! She spins around and twirls her scythe around her body and tries to cut through both figures. Or at least send them both flying away from the group. Yet it wasn't to much success as neither are there anymore. Those silver eyes widen as she feels a presence behind her, she tries to move again. But she couldn't use the recoil from her sniper rifle scythe this time. The Huntress would be hit in the back. So Ruby spins as goes for a block as she sees the shadow try to commit to the same strike as the other two, but this one was much closer. Yet somehow Ruby can move her weapon in time to block the strike and the clang of metal against metal shocks her. Is it real?

Glynda on the other hand with years of experience moved with a practiced and collective purpose. She throws the shards of concrete at one and it disappears, the next 2 move in unison forward and go for a downward strike, but the spacing between them would make it impossible for her to take care of them both easily. So, she erects a barrier between her and the figures. The weight behind both strikes surprises her as she struggles to make sure they don't break through.

And suddenly a shadow turns into a wisp of smoke for a moment before a more tangible and real Shadow Demons is in front of Glynda. She was still holding the barrier as the other figure held its blade against her. The mercenary slide around her side and delivered a powerful right hook into her sternum. Her barrier breaks, and another punch sends her into Ruby Rose. The fake figures disappear into nothingness as the Shadow Demon looks down on them. The pair sprawled out on the ground as the shop owner runs inside his shop to safety.

"Now, what do we have here?" A calm and collected voice rings out. The mercenary tenses, his reaction is palpable as he turns to the source of the voice. Ozpin, Oz the Great and Terrible came down from his clocktower of Beacon Academy. "Glynda, I'm surprised that you're not able to handle this young man."

It was practically mocking, standing there with that cane and a damn mug of coffee or whatever that was in his cup. Another 15 shadows appear around Ozpin. Ozpin's brown eyes taking in his situation as each of the shadows draws their blade.

"I see…" Ozpin merely looks back at a very specific figure of the Shadow Demon. Each shadow pulls a throwing knife from their left thigh pouch and throws it with power and precision. 17 knives whistle through the air, but Ozpin makes one move. The headmaster lifts his cane and taps the ground and each knife is blown out of the air and clatters harmlessly to the ground. 16 knives disappear into nothingness while 1 is left stuck to the ground.

_**'Kill…'**_

The next moment is a blur for Ruby, each figure suddenly appears within striking distance of Ozpin. Their swords are drawn and ready for blood. Another tap of his cane forces 16 clones to disperse. The now lone Shadow Demon, the real one, brings his sword down in a powerful slash. Ozpin in response bringing his cane up to block. But realization dawns upon Ozpin when he feels their weapons clash. It was an incredible powerful strike. Almost enough to break his guard.

"If you don't take me seriously, you'll lose this." With that said, Ozpin parries the sword away. The headmaster, seemingly frail man, moves in with a jab aimed for the boy's right shoulder. It connects with flesh. And another jab from Ozpin's cane strikes the boy's stomach. And another striking at his chest.

It all happened so quickly. Obsidian has heard many times that this man before him is powerful. A true Huntsman and a true guardian of the light. And he was frozen when the man appeared. Obsidian knew he would have to put everything into fighting Ozpin. But even with pushing out 16 live clones, he was unable to leave a scratch. Each clone was dispelled by some strange force. Was it his semblance? What is it? When those thoughts rushed through his mind as he brought his sword down. It was plenty to leave Ozpin that opening. It felt like it happened in the time he blinked. His sword arm quickly disabled, a strike hard enough to send him keeling over and then a strike that left him gasping for air. Obsidian kneels as he clutches at his stomach. Feeling like what little he had to eat would come out in a moment.

"Glynda, why don't you take those two away from here? This might get dangerous." Ozpin says it like its nothing, he was expecting something from this confrontation.

It has something to do with that cane's movement, it has to be. With that in mind, Obsidian slips into the darkness of a building. A shadow of his recovering his blade and returning it to him. Obsidian steps out from a shadow behind Ozpin, his lone crimson eye burning with a passion to win. If he was caught by this man. He was dead.

_**'Kill…'**_

Obsidian moves quickly before the other trio notices him, his sword poised to drive through Ozpin's heart. Another shadow appearing on the opposite side of Obsidian's strike moves in as well. The mimicked move of the shadow is what catches Ozpin's eyes. Oz moves to block the shadow's strike while Obsidian's true strike is aimed at his unprotected back.

"Ozpin! Behind you!"

That damn Huntress! Ozpin moves like lightning; his mug being sent behind him as he taps the cane to the ground. Dispelling the clone, Ozpin moves to block the real Obsidian. His cane slapping the blade out of the way. But Obsidian wasn't done, using his free hand, he pulls a throwing knife out and flings it at Ozpin's face. The blade only cutting the cheek of the headmaster.

Time seemed to move too fast around Obsidian for a moment, Ozpin able to recover much faster even after getting grazed by his throwing knife. Ozpin's cane moves with unperceivable speed and strikes out at the mercenary. Right wrist, stomach, shoulder, right knee, chest again, and Obsidian is forced to swap places with a newly created clone taking a strike to the face.

Obsidian grits his teeth, it was starting to get hard to hold onto his sword properly. Ozpin was clearly taking advantage of his right side being practically an entire blind spot. Obsidian then begins to gather aura all throughout his body. He could never create that shield naturally like anyone else. He couldn't even do it when he's focusing. But instead, his body's outline blurs. Blending in with the darkness around him and draining his aura dangerously low. But he feels his strength grow as he feeds aura into it. His body felt lighter and he could hold onto his sword easier. 2 more clones accompany him by flanking Ozpin. All 3 make their move simultaneously exponentially faster than before, drawing 4 throwing knives from their respective pouches and throwing them at Ozpin. But each at different times. By doing this, Ozpin was forced to move out of the way. Opening himself up first to what should be a shadow of Obsidian.

Ozpin attempts to bring his cane down, but another shadow slashes at the cane it nearly knocks the cane out from Ozpin's iron grip. The other two Obsidians move to strike at Ozpin once again with increased speed and strength behind the attacks. Ozpin moves with inhuman speeds like before and parries the downward slash from one shadow and the sideways slash from the other. The real Obsidian slides down to his knees and spins, aiming to cut through his aura at his stomach. Yet Ozpin strikes him square in the forehead that sent him sprawling to his back.

Ozpin puts his cane down on the boy's chest, looking back to find that Glynda followed his orders to take the girl and old man out from harms way. But then he felt the weight beneath his cane shift and it was gone. He looked around once again and frowned. "You are quite quick or is it that semblance of yours's? That earned you your moniker."

Obsidian doesn't answer as he recovers slowly, his could feel the strength begin to leave him as his aura gets lower and lower. He grits his teeth, not much time left. Obsidian rushes at the headmaster with his blade behind him. Yet before he could even reach the white-haired man, Ozpin was already on him. This time, Obsidian expected the speed and leaps into the air and strikes out at Ozpin's exposed back. Without enough time to respond, Ozpin is struck. His aura taking a considerable hit from just one attack.

The headmaster turns on his heel and brings his cane up at the ready, maybe this young man was more impressive than he thought. The pair face off again and they both move, Obsidian waits until the last moment and slides on his knees once again. His metal shin guards protecting him as he slides across the pavement and lands another strike on the headmaster, his blade just cutting into the headmaster's aura.

Both turn quickly but Ozpin is faster, he lands a jab into Obsidian's shoulder that sends his sword finally clattering to the ground. And another jab hits Obsidian's mask. Shattering the ceramics and some shards cutting into the cheek struck. Obsidian is sent onto his back and Ozpin is quick to press the cane against Obsidian's throat. The boy's hood laid out on the ground behind him as he tries to catch his breath. Obsidian's aura now entirely drained.

"That was quite the workout. And… you're really just a child." Ozpin looms over the young teen. An impassive look on the headmaster's face as the sound of sirens echoes and get close. "Ah, there they are."

…

Upon arriving at the police station, a mob of police officers swarms the van holding the Shadow Demon. Each and every officer is on edge with their hands resting on their weapons as they escort the chained teen inside. Ruby Rose was taken in with Glynda Goodwitch before Ozpin arrived at the police station. But she couldn't shake the feeling. If that man, was able to go toe to toe with Glynda and Ozpin. Was he not taking her seriously? Could he have cut her down in just one slash? She had to be saved by those two when she was trying to help. But it was not how Ozpin saw it. He saw the skill and potential within the girl and even invited her to attend Beacon! She would be coming in 2 years early! She could go with her sister, Yang! So, upon leaving the station the girl had no weight in her chest about the man that she fought.

The boy who had 4 guards standing in an interrogation room for an hour, along with 6 guards on the other side of the one-sided glass and 2 outside the door to the interrogation room. "For some, this would be overkill. Don't you think Glynda?"

"A killer like him needs this. In my opinion." The 'good witch' snaps.

"He's just a boy." Ozpin retorts, carrying a new mug of coffee with him. Looks almost like the same one that shattered during his fight with the Shadow Demon. Upon entering, the pair of Huntsmen find the boy shackled practically down to the floor with his ashy grey and black hair hung over his eyes. They fitted him with shackles on both wrists, connected by another chain down to a belt they fitted him with on his waist. Another pair of shackles hold his ankles in place. With one chain connecting his ankles to the belt on him and the belt itself held two chains as well that kept him to the floor. "Well, that really is unnecessary. Hand me the key and please leave the room. Thank you for your service."

Each guard looked uneasy and looked around to one another, they were very reluctant to leave the room with just those two and the mere child.

"I can handle myself and him, thank you for your concern."

With that, the guards nod and file out of the room. One handing the key for the boy's restraints to Ozpin. Obsidian still had his armor on but was obviously relinquished of his weapons. He felt his heart beating out of his chest, the fear of death was palpable.

"Are you hungry?" The man's voice was gentle and caring, a small and friendly smile spread across his lips. Ozpin sets down a plate of cookies on the desk gingerly. "I'm sure you'd be starving after that battle."

Obsidian's head moves slowly up, his hair parting to show that hideous scarred tissue that is where his right eye is supposed to be. His lone eye was squinted in confusion. Glynda couldn't help but cringe at the scar and that unnerving eye. But then she took a better look past it, he really was just a boy. He still had some baby fat on his cheeks, but his jawline was sharp and defined. He was not a man, a growing teen at the most.

"I'm getting executed, aren't I? So why do you care?" Obsidian's monotone, quiet voice broke the moment of surprise for Glynda. Ozpin, on the other hand, was more interested in who this young teen is.

"I don't think you will be." Ozpin gives the boy a smirk before continuing. "I have some pull in the police department and justice system. A benefit of being a headmaster I suppose. It all really depends on you. What's your name, young man?"

"Obsidian Slade." The one-eyed mercenary says as that one eye regards the pair warily. He's been baited by headmasters twice before. As if he's going to trust this one…

"Obsidian… an interesting name. So, you think we would execute you for your crimes Mister Slade?"

"Yes. 53 counts of first-degree murder, 125 counts of second-degree murder, 282 counts of aggravated assault and 7 counts of terrorism. Is what they have on my warrant."

Ozpin raises an eyebrow as he takes a sip from his mug. "So, you don't deny your crimes?"

"No. I committed them. So, why am I not dead?"

Ozpin shakes his head, "all criminals were once led far astray from a good path."

"I never had a choice. I did what I must to live. To survive. No matter what I do now will not change who I am and my crimes. The only end of this road is death."

"That's rather pessimistic. And what if I said there's another path for you? Here and now."

Obsidian leans back, looking down at his hands. One covered and shrouded in darkness and the other perfectly normal. But he saw the blood on them, the blood of 178 people. "There is no other path for someone like me…"

Ozpin gives a small smile before reaching over and taking a cookie, taking a quick bite as he leans back again and pushes the plate of treats toward the teen. "For someone like you? I believe anyone deserves a second chance. No matter who they are. Miss Rose was fighting to stop the robbery, yet you merely prevented her from getting to the robbers. You just incapacitated her and threatened her once."

"And then _she_ showed up and tried to snap my spine in two." Obsidian looks up to the blonde Huntress though that eye showed no ill will it just held an eerie calm that unnerved her.

"Yes, well… Glynda is not the gentle type. And when she did arrive, you did fight. But found that she was handicapped with the store owner and Miss Rose behind her."

"You could just say you arrived just in time to stop me from killing all three of them."

"And that is where it is interesting. Your skill and strength in battle showed me that you went easy on both. You could have killed Miss Rose and even Glynda if you tried to. But you didn't. Why?"

Obsidian swallows the lump in his throat as he looks down at his hands again. Why did he? He saw that light in the red girl's eyes. Not just the silver, but the shine of what terrified him. Even against him. Even after she saw him, the girl fought hard. Trying to do what she could to protect the shop owner. And he couldn't snuff that light out. He never could. And then there was Glynda Goodwitch. Funny name, but she was a powerful Huntress. During their battle, he realized. What was the point of him fighting her? It was just to get Torchwick out. He moved from the adrenaline of battle. He didn't even realize it at first, but that thing festering in his heart reared its ugly head.

When Obsidian did, he went to try to intimidate the trio. Try to force Glynda back into a full retreat upon the realization of the difference in their combat prowess. He was a killer and she was a Huntress, taught to kill Grimm and not people. But when Ozpin showed himself, that changed the situation. Obsidian had no idea if the headmaster could catch him if he tried to run, or if he knew what Obsidian's semblance is. It was fight or flight and he chose wrong, clearly.

"Both of them were in the wrong place at the wrong time. Why should they die?"

"…." Ozpin stays quiet for a few moments, looking over to Glynda who seemed to want to glare a hole into the boy's head. Ozpin can't help the smile that comes to his face as he gives a nod, "that's an understandable response. Mister Slade, I'd like you to join me tomorrow for a tour of the campus of Beacon Academy. And I'd like to invite you to attend my academy. I want you to have some time to decide, so have the night."

Ozpin slides the key to his shackles over to Obsidian who is left shocked. The two headmasters that had tricked him before never asked for him to join their academies. Just invited him as clients looking for a blade. But only ended up being stabbed in the back. Well, shot. Interrupting that train of thought, Obsidian notices the headmaster of Beacon and his right hand make their way for the door.

Ozpin turns with a friendly smile, "no one is irredeemable, Obsidian Slade."

…

Obsidian had been free to go immediately after that; the police were ordered to not attempt another arrest on the dangerous criminal. Didn't stop every officer in the building to give the young man a hateful look. Afterall, they had that monster and he was free to go. But orders were orders. And so, Obsidian roams the streets with his full gear. The police didn't find his pack on the roof of the building he was drawing on before the entire conflict. So, Obsidian did have to go back and pick it up.

The shadowy mercenary walks the streets with his hood up but his eye downcast. He just let his mind roam as he made his way to Junior's club. He would stay there for the night and get the hell out of Vale. But what if… what if what Ozpin had said was true? Is he truly worthy of being redeemed? Can he walk a brighter path? The path of a hero and not the monster in the dark?

_**'No… he's lying… he just wants to hurt you. Like everyone else.'**_

Obsidian stops dead in his steps. His right eye, or what was his right eye, started to ache horribly. He could almost feel the sharp edge of steel digging into his flesh again. Obsidian was just a small, weak boy. He couldn't stop it, he couldn't get away. He could only endure. He could only struggle and scream. That weak boy could only watch that sick, twisted grin form as the knife poised to take out his other eye. And then-Obsidian crashed into someone? Or someone crashed into his stagnant form.

The one-eyed teen moves his eye up to find a girl, around his age, in front of him. He could see her mouth moving but he couldn't hear what she was saying. That lone eye widened as he took in her appearance. She was built like a fighter but carried a well gifted figure; a teen growing into a woman. Those soft yet somehow piercing lilac eyes entranced him. But most prominent of all was her hair. It was like flowing, shining gold. No… like the very sun itself was weaved into hair. Her hair was brilliantly beautiful.

"I…" Obsidian's voice died in his throat, he felt his chest constrict painfully. It took him an extra moment to gather himself, taking a deep breath. "I'm sorry, I wasn't looking where I was going."

"Huh? No, I bumped into you. I'm sorry." The blonde teen gives a small smile, rubbing the back of her head. "I was riled up from something earlier."

"It's okay… my name is Obsidian Slade." The ashen haired teen reaches his right hand forward, only to look down and retract it quickly. He swapped the hands he was carrying his backpack and used his more normal looking hand instead.

"Yang Xao Long." The girl was weirded out at first with how he swapped from his natural and dominant hand but waved it off. "Sorry again." Yang gives his hand a firm shake, a small, friendly smile on her lips.

"I'm not hurt, so there's no need to worry."

Yang giggles, giving a pat on the boy's shoulder. "I know I'm strong, but I'm not _that_ strong!"

'She's got a pretty smile…'

"Anyway, nice meeting you Obsidian! I gotta get home!"

Obsidian merely nods as she runs off. He reached up with a free hand, touching the marred flesh that covered his right eye socket. The pain was oddly gone. Passed as if it was never there in the first place.

The teen made for Junior's club much faster, passing through the doors to find the club in tatters. Shattered glass and clear signs of battle across the entire club floor. Obsidian looks over to a corner of the club to see the Malachite twins nursing some water and looking worse for wear. Obsidian moves to the bar with Junior clutching his head and a glass of whiskey in front of him.

"Someone come in to rob you, Junior?"

"Ugh, no. Some hot chick in yellow came in looking for someone. Ended up kicking my ass, the twins' and most of my boys. Wait, where were you? Torchwick dropped by a while ago with your money!"

"Ozpin caught me and arrested me, talked to me and let me go."

The shock is not lost on the gangster's face, he looks at the kid like he's grown another head. "You're… what?"

"Also invited me to Beacon."

Now that put a wrench in the gears for several moments. Junior has known the kid for about 2 years now. He's really just that, a kid. A kid that somehow learned to use a sword like a Huntsman and use his terrifying semblance. He's a force to be reckoned with but Junior can tell that the teen is clueless to a lot of things. Junior has been Obsidian's patron for this long and he's notice this and a lot of smaller details regarding teenager. Like how he needs to leave this shitty side of the world.

"You should take it." Junior notes the teen tense up, "look, this life has got only a few endings for yah. You get arrested and killed, killed on a job or you piss off someone that has 'friends' and get killed. You're going to find yourself in a grave pretty quick in this life. You've been dealt a bad hand and you've been playing it as best you can. But maybe this'll give you a new hand. A fresh start. Everyone's looking for that in this life at some point. So why not take it?"

"… it's not about looking for a fresh start, Junior." Obsidian looks down at the counter, his shoulders slumping in defeat as thoughts swarm of what could happen. Of how he could be hurt again. Of how he'll just never get a break.

"But what could it hurt? Go there, take a look. See what happens and even if things go South. You can just leave."

"…."

"Fine, don't listen. But here's your pay." Junior drops a small parcel on the table before turning and trying to clean up the rear of the bar. But with all the broken glass and spilled alcohol everywhere. Well, it'd be easier to just grab a mop and clear out the shelves with it.

Obsidian on the other hand takes his pay and leaves for his 'room.' With so little in it and so little real time the mercenary spends in it, he couldn't call it a room or his. And so, he removes his gear to leave himself in the solid black wet suit and lays down on the couch with his artbook. He flipped through the pages; scenes filled the pages of interestingly designed buildings in Atlas, the expansive and desolate desert in Vacuo, and the notable cliffs of Mistral. One of his favorites was the strange sight of Beacon to Vale from outside the walls. When you look at it from the outside, Beacon is placed far above the civilian city of Vale. As if saying Vale was below the shining light of the Huntsman academy.

Obsidian frowned, did a mere shadow belong under that shining light? Did he deserve to go to Beacon? Sure, he could bring down most of the Huntsmen and Huntresses out there. But his skill isn't in question in his mind. Is it right for someone like _him _to attend the prestigious Beacon Academy?

…

"Mister Slade, I'm glad you took this opportunity." Ozpin stands casually at the airbus terminal, that signature cane and mug in either hand. Yet Obsidian was less than casual, his body was tense; his right hand was poised to grab at either a throwing knife or his sword at any given moment. Obsidian's left hand hang over his shoulder with his backpack draped lazily over it. "And please, this isn't some cheap trick. If we wanted you; we would have kept you in prison yesterday, Mister Slade."

Obsidian frowns clearly, he kept his hood up but his features are more easily discerned in the mid-day. The teen would typically use his semblance to mask his face with shadows but here decided to opt against it. Ozpin already knows what he looks like, might as well not bother. "This wouldn't be the first time a headmaster invites me to their academy."

"Yes, the General is rather brash and unforgiving. Although Shade's headmaster is more… deceitful. But please, trust that I won't abuse your willingness in this."

Obsidian doesn't answer, just looking over to the airbus. Obsidian moves to make sure the headmaster stays to his left side. Clearly still wary with Oz the Great and Terrible. Though Ozpin just allows him to be comfortable while they walk to the airbus.

"Beacon is a place where students your age can grow and hone their skills as Huntsmen or Huntresses. Race, creed, gender, this place accepts all of them. And we seek to guide these young souls along the right path."

That last statement wasn't lost to Obsidian, he doesn't answer once again as his lone crimson eye scans the airbus. No one else was taking the transport to Beacon. Just Ozpin and him. So, either Ozpin expected this to be a tense encounter or it is a trap. Even so, Obsidian follows Ozpin to the front of the airbus. It really was a different view of Vale from the sky, and Beacon from within the airbus.

"We have many facilities for student's use and wellbeing. We have the arena for practicing in combat, the gym for physical fitness, medical wing for any injuries sustained during your time here, library for honing your knowledge and the CCT for anyone wanting to contact friends or family across Anima."

As the pair walked along the path toward the more central part of campus, Obsidian couldn't help but let his eyes wander over the beautiful courtyard. He hasn't seen anything like it among the other 3 kingdoms.

"And… the courtyard if anyone wants to just relax." Ozpin lets the edges of his lips curl up into a smile as they walk closer to the buildings on campus. "The freshmen year will be coming in tomorrow for the initiation."

Obsidian stops walking and turns to Ozpin, that one red eye was still unnerving, but Ozpin doesn't show it. "… so, you're not lying about the invitation?"

"No, Mister Slade. It is very real. I'd like for you to attend my school and become a Huntsman. I can provide you with a full pardon for your… mistakes in the past."

Obsidian felt something in his chest he hadn't felt in a very, very long time. He couldn't really remember it well, but he remembered his heart felt lighter like this when his mother was still alive. When he could live freely as an innocent child. But that last statement made him flinch.

"Those weren't mistakes. It was something I chose. Something I deserve to be punished for." Obsidian's words were hollow, cold and true. All in his mind. What he did, the blood he's spilled? He can't just be pardoned for all of that.

And then a cane bops Obsidian on the top of his head. It wasn't hard by any means, just a surprise to Obsidian as he turns to the source. Ozpin, smirking into his mug as he takes a sip. "There. You're punished."

Obsidian is baffled, this man known as Oz the Great and Terrible just… he just tapped him on the head with a cane after admitting he was guilty. Guilty of killing 178 people. Guilting of ruining the lives of so many families. And he just…

"If that is not quite enough, you know I can hit harder. Now, if you truly wish to atone, you must do so with action. Not by death. But by out weighing your misdeeds with deeds that save people. That is what I propose, Mister Slade. You commit yourself fully to saving and protecting the lives of the innocents. Because I truly believe you can do it. Your strength and skills are on par with some of the better Huntsmen and Huntresses. And once you graduate, I'm sure you will become a legend. And not the kind parents tell their children to get them to bed at night. But the awe-inspiring legend that would encourage those after him."

Obsidian can't help but feel that strange thing in his heart grow, that thing that seemed to ignite from ashes to a burning ember. It is small, but he knew what it is. It is hope. It is hope for a better tomorrow and further beyond. Hope to see past what was on the horizon. Sure, Obsidian didn't know what might happen. Obsidian didn't know if this was some elaborate trap, but Ozpin spoke with such passion. The teen couldn't help but feel that he could have this. Obsidian brought his gaze up to the gorgeous, clear blue sky.

"Okay… I'd like a chance."


	2. Chapter 2

**A/N: I do realize that this is just an addition with interactions for the OC. But I do promise that the extent to the changes in events will be more prominent when we get to finales of arcs. This fanfic is inspired by another discontinued (I believe it is) fanfic. "Of Heroes and Monsters" by Yiuceht. I do not own RWBY or any content I may add in the future. Reviews are strongly encouraged. Thank you and without further adieu-**

**The Shadow of Remnant**

…

Chapter 2:

"I highly suggest this boy get psychological help before we take him into this school." Professor Peach cuts to the point immediately, moments after she walks in and steps in front of Ozpin's desk. Ozpin on the other hand still with that mug of coffee or whatever raises a brow at the doctor. "He's a troubled individual with a troubling past that I believe needs to be addressed before he should be accepted here."

"I agree." Glynda stands dutifully next to the headmaster with her scroll in hand as she looks over the report Peach is speaking of.

Ozpin sets his mug down and brings his hands down in front of him with his elbows on the desk, he had meant to just get a preliminary idea of the boy's mind. With that, they'd work to get him on the right track. "I've already accepted him. And I cannot go back on that decision. Furthermore, I think he needs to be here."

Ozpin's natural calm voice somewhat grates on Glynda, "and yet he could've maimed you in that fight. He's dangerous."

"I understand what you mean…" Peach cuts in, Ozpin and Glynda turn back to her as she gives a small smile. "I do think that he shouldn't be allowed here. But if what I think is true, he _needs_ to be here. Or somewhere he can get a stable network to support him. What he's been through… is a lot for a 17-year-old. I've professionally consulted Huntsmen and Huntresses double his age that have been through half as much. Yet he doesn't seem like this 'Shadow Demon' people call him. Just, someone struggling through life and got a bad start." Professor Peach swallows a lump in her throat. "A horribly bad start…"

Ozpin waits for a moment, picking up his mug to take a sip. "Please, tell me how it went."

…..

Obsidian sat awkwardly on a couch across from this strange doctor. She was way too friendly and enthusiastic for him. Ozpin told him he needed to undergo a medical examination. Now that was done, why was he in her office? Obsidian shuffled uncomfortably a little bit in his seat. He looked down at his pants. He had to change his attire, as per Ozpin's request to keep his true identity a secret at the school.

Obsidian still wore his black combat boots, but now had a pair of brown cargo pants tucked into them. A scroll that Ozpin had supplied him with is tucked away in one of the pockets. He had on a plain grey hoodie overtop the wet suit he typically wore underneath. He had his hood up, his ashy grey and black hair poked out from beneath the hood. He had no weapons with him yet, he would be using a different set of weapons as a Huntsman. It would be easier to disguise himself as not the 'Shadow Demon' if he didn't use the same weapons, clothes, and his semblance. Hopefully.

Though Ozpin did say that some teachers would know his identity as the 'Shadow Demon.' Including this woman, Professor Peach. Who was happily typing away at her desk for his profile. He shuffled again, earning her attention.

"Are you uncomfortable? Is it too hot in here?" She chirped out, a friendly and soft smile on her face. Peach had found nothing wrong with him. Except for the fact, he had way too many scars for someone his age and that strange substance covering his skin. It wasn't substance, but it was his skin somehow. Peach had hidden a scalpel and cut into the right side of his back to test something. He had no reaction whatsoever to the sharp object against that surface somehow. But since there was nothing medically wrong, she just had to fill a little more out and she was done.

"No."

She giggled a little, "you're not very talkative are you, Obsidian?"

"No."

"…and done! Now I want to have a chat with you, I'd like you to give me more than 1- or 2-word responses. Is that okay with you?"

Obsidian looked up at her, she was very uneasy under that gaze. The way it glowed with such vibrancy but held a calculative glint. He purses his lips a bit, clearly uneasy as well right now. "Yes, that's fine. I'm sorry."

"It's quite alright! Now, can you tell me a bit about yourself?"

"… what?"

"Yes, I'd like to know more about you. Here at this school, we like to get a full profile of our students. And I would like to fill out some blanks. Like… who's your family?"

"I don't remember well. My parents died when I was young."

"So you're an orphan… and what about relatives?"

"I was taken into an orphanage."

"I see…"

"So, what was your time like in the orphanage?"

"…"

"Do you have any memories of the orphanage?"

His jaw tensed she notes, his gaze lowers. He could feel it begin again. That sharp pain. The cutting, the ripping, the cleaving, the ripping, the whipping, and the beatings. He could feel his eye ache and ache.

"Are you okay?"

Obsidian clenches his eye shut, his hands grip his pants tightly as he endures it. It takes several moments before his shoulders slouch and that tension is gone as fast as it appeared. His lone crimson eye meets her much gentler pair of eyes. "Yes, I'm fine now."

"What was that?"

"Remembering something. Please, don't ask about it."

"It's my job to ensure the students here are healthy and happy. So, I'll ask again. Are you okay?"

Obsidian looks down at his pants. "… can anyone be okay?" His voice comes out soft and she could just barely catch it as she leans forward. "Can anyone suffer over and over again..." His entire body was tense. Almost shaking.

'**Don't let anyone get close… they'll only hurt you. They'll only try to kill you. Kill them first...**'

"And scream for help, scream long enough to realize no one is coming. Can anyone get pushed and bent and hurt and not break?" Obsidian's teeth were pressed together at the point as he spat out the last 3 words.

Peach blinks, that wasn't really she was expecting from someone just a boy. "Well… everyone has a point they break. But it's about putting them back together. That's what I'm here for."

Obsidian shakes his head, "Let me share a story and we'll see if you can fix it. A young boy was born to loving parents. Everything was perfect, great. Everything was filled with light and love. But there was something wrong with that boy… no doctor could accurately tell the family what was wrong. Just something different. Then something appeared on his right hand. It was like his skin, but it was wrong. So wrong that the parents tried to get it removed. Over and over again the parents tried surgery, treatment, everything. But it was so much money. So, the father takes up a risky assignment as a Huntsman. Impersonating one."

Obsidian stops for a few moments, that piercing red eye bore into Peach's eyes with an intensity that made the doctor uneasy. "That young boy lost his father. He lost his mother 2 weeks later. He was 3 years old. And he didn't have any relatives. So, he got sent to an orphanage. But, humanity is an ugly race. He was different. He was different from everyone around him. So, they called him a monster, a demon, an abomination."

Obsidian's face contorting into something ugly as he felt rage well up in his chest. "He got beaten and he was barely given any food by the workers. He got a cellar for a room. No bed. No chair. Nothing. Just cold, stone walls and chains. He was whipped. He was beaten bloody in that room. Over and over. Days bled into each other. Weeks passed, hoping he'd be saved!" Obsidians voice wasn't as monotoned as usual. It was passionate, filled with burning anger. "Months went by… blurred past him. He wished, he prayed, he begged, he pleaded! But he got nothing. For 5 long years, he suffered. He hoped. And he broke."

Peach feels a lump in her throat. She couldn't say anything as he pauses, that deadly gaze boring a hole into her head. He takes a deep breath as his face returns to a more neutral expression.

"He was shattered, he didn't know why or how or what he did to deserve it. But he knew no one would come for him. He'd die. Be cast into the unknown like this. But instead, he saved himself. What was left of him at least." Obsidian notes how tense she was. How anxious she felt from across the desk. He knew she couldn't handle it. Weak. The young teen rises from his seat, he turns for the door and opens it. He looks over his left shoulder. That eye seemed to glow more, a crimson, bloody red. "I'm done here. If you think you can fix whatever is left of that. Tell me and I'll give you more of the story."

…

The entire headmaster's office is silent once Professor Peach finishes up the recalling of her conversation with the young man. She knew it was a lot to process, it took her some time to think of everything that could be wrong with the boy. It was honestly easier to say what wasn't wrong. The only saving grace she could think of is that even after everything that's happened to him at such a young age, he isn't an insane, bloodthirsty maniac. In contrast to how the news portrays his visage as the 'Shadow Demon.'

Peach clears her throat, "after hearing that. I want to see him again. He's troubled. Though that word might not be enough to explain his situation, I believe someone needs to help him."

Ozpin is uncharacteristically not stoic and calm, he silently looks down at his coffee. There're many tragic stories he's heard over the years. But that is something out of nightmares. The worst of the worst of humanity brought down upon an innocent soul. He lets out a sigh and nods, "yes, I believe you're right. Though I believe he needs some room. We should observe him as he socializes among the other students. And go from there."

"That would be difficult. He's very hesitant to talk about himself. Even if he did open himself up with that 'story'. I think that it was more to scare me off. Not a call for the help he needs." Peach adds.

"… even so. He's dangerous, so we need to at least keep an eye on him." Glynda's voice cuts in, ever the cautious one. "We can't have someone like him harming other students."

Ozpin looks over at Glynda and nods, "I suppose you're right. We'll keep a close eye on him and what he does. But I want him to feel comfortable here. If he feels in danger, he might just flee and turn back to what he was before."

"I agree."

"…me as well."

"Excellent, then we'll try to help Mister Slade as much as we can."

…..

Obsidian slams his right fist into a concrete column, the web like cracks forming around his fist as he clenches it tight. The black appendage didn't show any signs of injury to the rough use. But still, the boy places his forehead against that same pillar. 'Why did I say all that?'

'**Because you want to scare her off… we're meant to be together… just us…**'

'Shut up…'

'**You need me, I saved you from that HELL!**'

"I said SHUT UP!" Obsidian reels his right hand back and again hits the column. The stone structure struggling from the damage of just two strikes of fury from the boy. He breathes heavily, his lone eye narrowed as he supports himself against the pillar. His right eye socket ached again. He turned to rest his back and slide down the column, his right hand coming up to cover it.

The cold steel. Digging and digging. The pain. The unbearable pain. He grits his teeth as his breathing got heavier and heavier. His entire body shook as he clenches his teeth hard. It takes longer than in the doctor's office. But eventually, he feels the pain fall away. He lets out a relieved sigh before slowly rising to his feet. His left hand running up the column for support until he gets to his full height.

His left eye opens and scans the courtyard as he takes a deep breath. He reaches into his pocket and pulls out a white eye patch. He thought he might as well spare everyone the trouble of seeing this ugly scar. Obsidian puts it on before putting up his hood. The other students should be here soon and then they can start initiation. Or so Ozpin says. He leans down and picks up his backpack, looking around once again before walking over to a shady tree.

Obsidian sits down with his back to the tree as he scans the courtyard again, he pulls out his pencil and artbook. And realizes he didn't even get to finish his sketch of the moon. A shame. He turns it to the next page and flips the book to its side, his lone eye looking up to the courtyard for a moment. Memorizing as many features as he can before he begins to draw.

It takes about an hour before Obsidian is done with his rendition of the entire courtyard from where he sat. It was difficult to draw in just the pencil, but he has nothing else to draw with. Nonetheless, he takes a look between the artwork and the actual courtyard. Giving himself a nod of approval before he closes the book. Setting it back in his backpack and just enjoying the sunlight. Yet this all felt strange, it was like a dream. He hasn't been able to find anything wrong with the situation here. Ozpin admitted him into Beacon as an official student. The headmaster even forged some papers for him to make it more 'legitimate,' much to Goodwitch's chagrin. A medical exam, although the psychiatric evaluation was unnecessary in Obsidian's opinion.

There were a few stipulations on his end to make too. Obsidian expected as much. It wasn't going to be easy to explain someone like him suddenly getting a free ticket. No hiding and no semblance. The sound of airbuses turns Obsidian's attention to the docks and spots several ships landing on the campus. He rises to his feet and pulls his bag over a shoulder with his blackened arm and watches as crowds of students file out of the ships. His eyes scan through the kids. So, few of them seemed serious about this.

Sure, Huntsmen and Huntresses are romanticized in media and because of that, people are not privy to the truth of a Huntsman's job. Obsidian hopes the serious ones are going to make it. The rest wouldn't be able to handle the reality of this life. Fighting for your life. Fighting for the life next to you. Fighting for the lives behind you. Fighting against the enemies of humanity.

But then he spots brilliant gold, his eye loses track of it for a moment before he spots her again. Shining gold, bright among the crowd. Even if it was dark that night, he could still recognize those brilliant lilac eyes and the shining hair. She was running up to a group of other girls, friends. Friends… huh? Obsidian's gaze falls. He doesn't know the definition. He doesn't understand it.

Obsidian's gaze moves back up to scan through the crowd again. And he finds another anomaly. That red girl, Rose was it? She was getting berated by some girl in white. She was awfully pale. But the men in suits around her meant she was rich. And Obsidian could hear the high-pitched, ear-piercing yelling coming from her. But he watches that girl in white wave around a bottle of Dust. Obsidian looks left, then he looks right, then behind. The teen disappears into the shadows and reappears a few meters away from the pair of girls in the shadows of a tree. He quickly walks over and just as he saw the literal cloud of Dust and how the red girl seemed to be struggling, he grabs her by the hood and pulls her back before she sneezes.

"Excuse you! What do you think you're doing?!" That high-pitched yell was even more unbearable this close.

"Stopping you from blowing both of you up." He sets Ruby down on her feet as she wipes her nose. Obsidian waving an arm in the air to disperse some of it. "Another second and she would've put you both in a crater. You shouldn't be swinging Dust around."

"Do you know who I am?!"

Obsidian gives her a flat look, "are you even listening?"

"Weiss Schnee, heiress to the Schnee Dust Company. One of the largest producers of energy propellant in the world." Another girl comes in wearing mostly black with some white, with gradient purple stockings and striking amber eyes. Obsidian though has seen her before and it unnerves him. But she's wearing a bow...? What?

"Finally! Some recognition!"

"The same company infamous for its controversial labor forces and questionable business partners."

"How dare- the nerve of you!" Weiss Schnee gives an indignant grunt of frustration before storming off.

Ruby finally recovers and raises her arm, shouting after the heiress. "I'm sorry! I'll make it up to you! I promise!"

Ruby deflates but it only lasts a moment as she turns to the other two. Who eyed each other warily. Blake knew she's seen this guy before, but she couldn't put her finger on it. The one hauntingly red eye was a sure tell sign for her. But she couldn't match it to a face or anything for that matter. Obsidian, on the other hand, didn't know whether she'd recognize him. He did wear a mask and hide his face when he worked with the White Fang in the past. Some people might be able to discern his identity as the 'Shadow Demon.' But some people are less perceptive compared to others. Such as Ruby as she cluelessly looked between the two.

Blake takes a few more moments to look the young teen over. She really can't see any similarities from anyone she's known. So, she's safe. Blake turns on her heel and walks away quickly without another word.

Obsidian turns to Ruby, having to look down at the 15-year-old as reaches his left hand out, "Obsidian Slade. Nice to meet you."

Ruby perks up at that, grabbing his hand and shaking it with a wide smile. "Ruby Rose! I haven't been having that good of a first day..."

Obsidian gives her a shrug, "then make it better?" His monotone voice makes it sound simple, just make it better.

Ruby scoffs at that with a roll of her silver eyes, "because that's so easy."

"Isn't it?" Obsidian stands there, looking down at her with no other words. As if what he said was the most obvious thing in the world. Ruby fidgets in her place as they just stand there awkwardly.

"Uhm… sooo I have this!" Suddenly, the red-clad girl pulls out her scythe with a twirl and slams the tip into the ground.

It wasn't the first time Obsidian has seen it, but he didn't show any response to indicate that he has. At all. Obsidian looks over the weapon closer than before, remembering how heavy that strike he blocked from the night before. It's impressive that a girl with such a small frame is able to handle the weapon so proficiently. "Very nice weapon. Scythes wielders are rare to come across."

"Thanks, and yeah… I was trained by my uncle! It's also a highly customizable high-caliber sniper rifle!"

Huntsmen and Huntresses are obsessed with their weapons doubling as guns. Obsidian thinks to himself with a silent scoff. Still, she's a very interesting person. "You're proud of it."

"Of course! Everyone at Signal design and build their own weapons! What about you?"

"I don't have my weapon with me. I have someone holding onto it for me."

Ruby, on the other hand, seems mortified. "But, but… what about if you get in a fight?!"

"I use my hands."

"Weapons are extensions of ourselves though! They're a part of you!"

Obsidian brings his left hand up to rub his chin. Looking over across the courtyard. The pair stands there for a couple of moments. Then a couple of minutes. Ruby fidgets awkwardly again as she sheathes Crescent Rose on her back. Just waiting for him to say something, anything to happen to get out of awkwardly standing here.

Obsidian finally cuts through the silence, "I don't get it. But, I think we need to go to the amphitheater for orientation." He points a finger toward the rest of campus.

"Oh! Yeah! Do you… know where it is?"

Obsidian blinks, she really is clueless. Well, at least she's not of any danger to his identity. He gestures a follow me and turns before she audibly answers him. She jogs a little to catch up with him as they make their way to the amphitheater.

…

The strange duo enters the amphitheater without another incident, thankfully without an accidental explosion. Yang yells out immediately when the pair walks in. "Ruby! Over here! I saved you a spot!"

Ruby perks up, she smiles before turning quickly to Obsidian. "Oh! Hey, I gotta go! I'll see you after the ceremony!" And she seems to speed off to… that blonde haired girl. Obsidian quickly and quietly moves to the back of the room as his thoughts begin to flood in. They're friends? How do they know each other? Was it a coincidence that he ran into her right after Ozpin let him go? Was all that a set up for when they try to trap him at Beacon? Was-

And Obsidian's thoughts were cut short as someone clearing their throat echoes into the room from speakers. Ozpin steps up to the microphone stand Glynda standing behind him. That cane in hand with no mug in the other. "I'll keep this brief. You have traveled here today in search of knowledge. To hone your craft and acquire new skills. And when you are finished, you plan to dedicate your life to the protection of the people."

It almost sounds like Ozpin sighs as he looks over the crowd. That calculating and calm gaze falling upon each student for a fraction of a moment. Pausing briefly as his eyes meet that lone eye of crimson at the back before Ozpin continues. "But I look amongst you, and all I see is wasted energy. In need of purpose. Direction. You assume knowledge will free you of this. But your time at this school will prove that knowledge will only carry you so far. It is up to you… to take your first step."

Ozpin looks across the crowd one last time before he makes his way off the stage, Glynda taking his place at the microphone with her arms behind her and that air of professionalism radiating from the blonde. "You will gather in the ballroom tonight. Tomorrow, your initiation begins. Be ready." She pauses for a moment to let that sink in before finishing, "you are dismissed."

Obsidian watches Ozpin leave, that one eye narrowing dangerously as the students begin to file out of the amphitheatre. The teen moves against the grain of the crowd as he tries to follow Ozpin. But a sudden hand from the crowd grabs his wrist. He turns in a blink, dropping his bag, his other hand poised behind him to deliver a haymaker of a punch.

And he doesn't even throw the punch after he meets the gaze of Glynda Goodwitch. Obsidian yanks his hand out of her surprisingly strong grip. The crowd parts around them and both stand there, staring the other down. The lone crimson eye meeting the bright emerald pair. The tension between them was obvious, it takes several minutes for the students to leave the amphitheater.

"Ozpin would like to see you." Glynda finally cuts through the pressure. She takes a moment to give him another hateful look before she turns on her heel and walks away. Obsidian frowns, he knows that look. But it is understandable that she gives it to him. And with that final thought the teen makes his way to the headmaster's office.

…

The wizard's clocktower really was something. Stretching into the sky from the ground like an elevator to the stars. Maybe Obsidian can get a good drawing of this at some point. If he stays that is. And so, Obsidian steps into the tower of Oz the Great and Terrible. He quickly makes his way for the elevator and hits the button for the top floor.

It was quite a long ride up to the top, Obsidian can see the arrogance behind sitting up high like this. As if Ozpin was lording over everything else. As if he was above the rabble. Obsidian doesn't feel frustration but found it funny, arrogance is the end of many people. After running through some thoughts of places to draw, Obsidian finds himself in a massive open-space office. Barely anything in the room save for the desk in the center and a pair of chairs in front of it. The chair behind the desk is already occupied by the headmaster himself. The windows overlooking the entirety of the campus, some of Vale and into the horizon beyond the walls of Vale. Obsidian found himself more correct than he believed from his thoughts before.

"Ah, Mister Slade. I'm glad that you're here." Ozpin gives a friendly smile and the signature coffee mug in hand. The headmaster rests back in his seat, pausing his work for the teen Huntsman-in-training.

"Goodwitch told me to come here."

"I do hope she wasn't too abrasive. She really must learn to read what's between the covers."

Obsidian's eye twitches at that. Is that an insult to him or the woman? "What did you want?"

"I wanted to talk to you about the initiation tomorrow. Teams will be decided then." Ozpin lets that sink in for a few moments before continuing. "Students will be paired together for the remainder of the four years here."

"I don't want or need a partner. Or a team."

"Please, Mister Slade. Someone of your skill will not be shackled by a first-year team. Or any team for that matter. I plan on assigning you to different teams for different missions. You will also be an assistant to our combat classes and survival classes when need be. And finally, you will be free to choose your team if I do not assign you to one, for missions. And regarding more public events or anything I might've missed; we'll decide what to do when that time comes."

"Understood." The robotic and immediate nature of that answer told Ozpin a few things. He was treating this as a mission from a client. He didn't really grasp what Ozpin's intentions were with assigning him a special role. And finally, Obsidian knew that Ozpin would be using the teen for his capabilities in combat.

"Good, then I have one more thing. There have been some sightings in the area, yet the reports are not clear. I believe it is a Goliath class Grimm; Goliath are large and heavily armored Grimm with incredible strength. I cannot organize any Huntsmen to take care of it so; I need you to handle it if it appears during the initiation test. And try to reduce the casualties to a minimum."

"I will handle it."

"Excellent. Do you have a new weapon that you're proficient with?" Ozpin's eyes scan the boy's form, no weapons on him at all. Just his hands.

"No. I'll be picking up my weapons from the city. It will not be weapons that I'm known for as the 'Shadow Demon.'"

"Wonderful, then I hope you get a good night's rest. And I'll leave the Grimm in your hands along with the safety of the students from it."

With that said, Obsidian notes he's free to leave. Without hesitation the boy leaves the office in the central elevator. He does note that there are 3 separate elevators yet 1 was on the ground floor. But Obsidian waves it off. He doesn't need to know.

Once the elevator doors close shut, Professor Peach steps out from one of the other elevators. Her lips tight together as if holding back a frown. "I'm still against this idea. I do not believe it will be good for his mental health. He'll be segregated and discriminated against for his special position."

Ozpin sighs as he turns in his chair, looking out to the darkness of night. He takes a sip of his coffee and ponders for a moment. "He has been an outsider for his entire life. He must learn how to deal with it and get closer to others. Even so, he will be with several teams during his time here."

"It is still a bad idea. He thinks he's different, too different. And he doesn't understand how to socialize properly because of his… unique childhood."

"He will adapt. I'm confident in that."

"If you think this will be beneficial to him then I will try to understand. I hope this works out for his sake…"

…..

Obsidian enters Junior's nightclub; the blaring music and bright lights are a prominent contrast to the darkness outside. Obsidian moves with trained practice through the crowd. Junior didn't even notice that Obsidian was there until he reached over the counter and tapped the man on the shoulder. The old informant spun like a top, about ready to smash him over the head with a bottle of scotch. Only to stop upon the realization of who it was.

"Oh, you're back already?"

"Just here to pick up something, can I get the key to my safe?"

"So, you're really going through with it?" Junior kneels behind the counter and reaches up to the underside of one of the shelves and grabs a key from it. Junior hands the teen the key with a small smirk. "Good for you Obsidian."

"I'm still not sure but I'll be there until I decide otherwise."

"Oh, if it isn't Obsidian? Didn't you go to become a Huntsman or something?"

The Malachite Twins, these two are quite good as bodyguards. Against normal thugs like Junior's regular guys. But even combined, Obsidian has bested them 4 of 4 times. Though Obsidian never goes beyond giving the pair a few bruises.

"Yes, Melanie. I'm going to Beacon." Obsidian wasn't a fan of Melanie, she was a little arrogant. The 3 last fights between him and the twins were a result of her prideful nature. He much preferred the reserved one, Militia.

"Hmf! I bet you'll get all soft when you're done." Melanie crossed her arms under her bust and stuck her nose up at him.

"Melanie… you shouldn't try to provoke Obsidian."

"Militia, you know it'll take more than words to get me into a fight."

Melanie gives a huff and turns away from the bar, strutting off like a child that didn't get what she wanted. Militia gives Obsidian a small smile and with a quiet 'good luck' the girl joins her twin on the other side of the bar.

Junior shakes his head, "at least Militia keeps her sister in line pretty good." And Junior didn't even realize that he was alone at the bar until after he turns to find Obsidian gone. Obsidian had left between the second or two that Militia walked away, and he spoke. "Damn kids these days… no respect for their elders."

Obsidian makes his way past his room in the back with the key in hand. He didn't need to hear more of whatever Junior had to say. He's going to Beacon because he wants that chance. The opportunity to a life where Obsidian doesn't have to look over his shoulder. He doesn't have to stay in hiding. He doesn't have to be the monster in human skin.

'**We still are…**'

Obsidian stops dead in his tracks, just a few more feet to the door. But a sudden sharp pain jabs at his missing right eye. His face contorts as the pain only increases as time passes. He clenches his teeth hard. His right hand drops the key as he brings it up to cover his right eye.

'**We kill… we live… we don't. We die. We are that monster, so we can live.**'

The pain becomes unbearable as he puts himself against a wall. His eye shut tight. And like how fast it came, it was gone a matter of moments later. He doesn't feel that cold steel in his eye anymore. He lets out a sigh of relief as he gathers himself along with the key from the floor. When he got to the floor is unclear to him.

Obsidian moves faster than before for the furthest backroom. Unlocking the door with the key Junior gave him, he enters and slams it shut behind him. He's in some storage room that doesn't seem to be of much use. But Obsidian knows Junior likes to hide stuff in here and with a small deposit, Obsidian could put a safe here for valuables.

The teen kneels before a safe in the corner, putting in the combination and opening it quickly. Inside is his sword and the two pouches for knives he uses normally as a mercenary. Additionally, inside is a large bag overfilled with bills of lien, an envelop of documents and two gauntlets. Obsidian reaches in to retrieve the gauntlets and leaves the rest.

Obsidian sets the gauntlets on top of the large hunk of metal and locks up the safe again. Obsidian stands fully in front of it and sets the key to the room down on top before picking up one of the weighty gauntlets. They are a brushed steel metal, both gauntlets are longer than his forearm. He straps the first one on his right arm, making sure all the buckles are secured. The gauntlet comes shorter than his wrist to allow him free movement of that joint. The armor also reached just a couple of inches past his elbow. But because of how it sat, it didn't restrict his movement at all.

Obsidian tests it by waving his arm, feeling the familiar weight behind the gauntlet. And by throwing his arm out roughly, a blade comes out that is just shorter than the gauntlet itself. The blade was about 3 inches thick with the about an inch cut out of the center of the blade. He inspects the blade closely, it was still razer sharp thankfully. Some minor scuffs along the blade's edge show it's use. He's never used these in the public eye. Always using his sword and throwing knives instead. Obsidian points the blade to the ceiling and by jerking his arm back, the blade returns to the inside of the gauntlet.

Obsidian straps on the second gauntlet before making sure the safe is properly secured. The teen collects the key and leaves the room, making sure to lock the door behind him and walking the back corridors of the nightclub.

He stops outside what was his room, stepping inside and taking a good look inside. This might not be the last time he'd be here, but he wouldn't be seeing it anytime soon. Even if he was betrayed at Beacon and forced to lay low. He wouldn't do so here. He would leave the kingdom and return some time later. For some reason, even though he shouldn't feel a connection to the room. He feels as though he should get one last look before he leaves.

The stagnant air, the set of 3 windows near the roof. The couch he's slept on for nearly 3 years. The table he's always used to put his equipment, clean, sharpen and generally keep his weapons and armor in working order.

With that, the young teen leaves. Dropping the key off with Junior before making his way back to Beacon. On the airship, he would look back at Vale. Around where he knew the nightclub sat. He might miss the place. And Junior. The twins. But might is a key word.

…..

"I know! We'll have some sort of signal! Like a distress signal! Ohhhh! A secret signal so we can find each other in a forest. Can you imitate a sloth?"

Obsidian looks over to the pair, a girl with orange colored hair and soft green eyes. She had a pink skirt, along with matching pink gloves. And white sleeves from mid bicep to mid forearm on both arms. She had white and pink shoes and a black top. While the boy that somehow put up with her was calm and seemed to be used to this kind of thing from the girl. He had black hair with a single pink highlight. He wears a dark green, diagonally-buttoned, long sleeved tailcoat that is red on the inside with black and gold trimming and pink cuffs. The trimming goes along the right side of his torso to reach the high collar of his coat.

Obsidian himself went with something simple, just his black boots and brown cargo pants he wore the day before. But he decided to forego the hoodie and just wore the wetsuit for his top. The gauntlets her retrieved from Junior's club strapped tight on his arms.

"Nora?"

"Yes Ren?"

"I don't think sloths make a lot of noise."

"That's why it's perfect! No one will know we're working together!"

"C'mon Nora, let's go."

"But not together together…. heheheh…"

And the strange pair leave, though Obsidian couldn't really call them strange compared to some of the other students here. Obsidian doubled checked the buckles on his gauntlets and looked over to some of the others.

Ruby Rose was with the blonde girl, who Obsidian was struggling to keep his eye off, and a scarlet haired girl in armor stood next to Weiss. The scarlet girl had an armored corset on and high boots that reached up to midthigh. She also wore sleeves that reached up to her mid bicep. The girl wore a mahogany skirt and an ankle length sash that matched her armor; it matched her hair with the same scarlet red but with gold trimmings to match the circlet she wore.

"But what about when we form teams?" Obsidian tunes back into the conversation of the yellow and red girls. He looks over and Ruby shyly turns away from the girl in yellow, an unsure look on her face.

"….oh! Hi Obsidian!"

Said teen blinks before waving as he walks up to the pair, "hi Ruby. How are you?"

"Okay, I was hoping I could form a team with my sister here, Yang. Yang, meet Obsidian, I met him yesterday. After you ditched me."

Obsidian raises his eyebrow, turning to the now dubbed Yang. Who looks away and fiddles with her hair. "Maybe you should try to be on someone else's team… like Obsidian here!"

"My dearest sister, Yang... are you implying you do not want to be on the same team as me?!"

Ah, there it is. They're sisters. Strange, they seem to look nothing alike.

"What? No? Of course, I do. I thought…. I don't know, maybe it would help you break out of your shell."

"What the-!? I don't need to break out of my shell! That's absolutely-"

"Ridiculous! There's no way I put my gear in locker 636 yesterday. I would've remembered to count that high. Why does this happen today?" And that was some blonde boy as he walked around aimlessly with a paper in his hands. Was he really that daft? Was he really taking this all seriously?

"Ridiculous… anyway! I thought you'd have my back! You're my sister!"

Obsidian stood awkwardly between the pair again, just wanting to use a shadow and get away. But no semblance unless absolutely necessary.

"Well, hey look Ruby. I'm sure everything will be okay." Yang then turns to the one-eyed boy and gives him a look over. "And you're… wait I met you before! A couple of days ago down in Vale!"

"Ah, you remembered."

"Yeah! Thanks for keeping my baby sister company yesterday." She gives a small grin and she grabs Ruby and puts her in a headlock. It was like she was trying to just put her hand on her shoulder and pull her in. But with the size difference, Ruby is just pressed up against the side of Yang's ample chest.

"Yanggg!" Ruby retches herself free from her sister's grasp and goes back to her locker. Making sure to stock up on ammo and grab her precious Crescent Rose.

Yang on the other hand got a better look at the teen in front of her. Young man really at their age. He was tall, taller than most other students, somewhere above 6 feet tall. He was built a little better than some of the other students here. Lean, muscular but even so he seemed a little malnourished. That wetsuit did really show off his build nicely.

And her eyes moved up to his face, she can appreciate that he was handsome. Sharp and defined jawline. No baby fat. The disheveled and obviously unkempt, ashy grey and black hair was somehow looking good. The eye patch was a little weird, but he was easy on the eyes. And clearly uncomfortable with how she was looking him up and down. Oh she could have fun with that…

That lone red eye darted to the side and back to her to see if she was still staring at him. He hadn't really felt the scrutinizing gaze of a girl before. But it felt weird. He felt a tightness in his chest as she looked him up and down. Judging him.

"Would all first-year students please report to Beacon Cliff for initiation. Again, all first-year students report to Beacon Cliff immediately."

And saved by the intercom as everyone in the room turned to the screen for a moment. Well now they all knew where they were going. Yang, Ruby and Obsidian move for the door. To find the blonde boy was impaled on a locker with his hoodie by the scarlet girl. She stepped past him and pulled out her spear.

"It was nice meeting you!" Pyrrha, Obsidian thinks he heard Weiss say her name was.

"Likewise…"

"Having trouble there, lady killer?" The trio move up to stand around the defeated boy. A small grin on Yang's face to show she was thoroughly entertained by the whole debacle.

"I don't understand. My dad said all women look for is confidence. Where did I go wrong?"

Obsidian reaches down and grabs the blonde's hood and yanks him up to his feet rather easily but roughly. Which Jaune gasped out in return, "herk! Gently please!"

"Sorry, thought you might stand on your own." Obsidian shrugs before grabbing an arm and putting it over his shoulder and beginning to help the boy to Beacon Cliffs.

"You know, snow angel probably wasn't the best start."

"Yeah… hey, my name's Jaune Arc. Thanks for the hand."

"Obsidian Slade."

"C'mon, we need to get to Beacon Cliffs…." Ruby cuts in a little dejected.

…..

The Emerald Forest, it really lives up to its name. The greenery stretches into mountains far off in the distance. This place could be good for a drawing. But he'd have to get a green pencil. There're a few different shades here too. But nonetheless, Obsidian knows that this place is probably infested with Grimm. A beautiful place turned into a hunting ground by the enemies of man.

Obsidian moves his gaze down and notes the plates every single student stands on. It appears they intend to launch them all. Or something along those lines. He can clearly see how Jaune fidgets in his place. Some other students doing the same. While others are clearly ready; Yang, Weiss, Blake, Pyrrha, Ruby, that oddball pair; Ren and Nora. And some others all seems ready to go.

"For years, you have trained to become warriors. And today your abilities will be evaluated in the Emerald Forest." Ozpin cuts into the tension at the top of cliffs. His mug but no cane in hand.

Glynda stood next to Ozpin diligently, a tablet in her arm as she eyes the students. Her gaze turning especially harsh on Obsidian. But he ignores it as she continues from where Ozpin left off, "now, I'm sure many of you have heard rumors about the assignment of teams. Well, allow us to put an end to your confusion. Each of you will be given you teammates." She pauses for a brief moment. "Today."

Obsidian can hear Ruby whine pitifully.

"These teammates will be with you for the rest of your time here at Beacon. So, it is in your best interest to be paired with someone with whom you can work well." Ruby once again gives a sad whine. "That being said, the first person you make eye contact with after landing will be your partner for the next four years."

"What?!" Ruby shrieks and Obsidian could swear he heard glass shattering. Strange.

"See? I told you!" That was Nora yelling at Ren. Of course, the two hyperactive ones are the loud ones.

"After you've partnered up make your way to the Northern end of the forest. You'll meet opposition along the way. Do not hesitate to destroy everything in your past. Or you will die."

"You will be monitored and graded for the duration your initiation. But our instructors will not intervene. You will find an abandoned temple at the end of the path, containing several relics. Each pair must choose one and return to the top cliff. You will guard that item as well as your standing. And we will grade you appropriately. Are there any questions?"

"Yeah… uhm… sir...?" Jaune, the poor and novice looking boy asks.

"Good, now take your positions."

Each student took a ready position on their plate. Obsidian seemed to be last in line after Jaune Arc. So, he stood casually as he watched the ever amusing Jaune Arc.

"Uhm, sir? I've got a question. So, this landing strategy thing. So, what is it? You're dropping us off or something?"

"No. You will be falling."

"Oh, so did you hand out parachutes or something?"

"You will be using your own landing strategy."

"Oh… okay… So, uhm… what exactly is a landing str-AIEEEEEEEeeeeeeeee!"

Obsidian cracks an amused smile at that. "You enjoyed that, Ozpin."

"Yes, he's interesting to me. And I hope that the faith I put in him is not misplaced. And as for you, I've already given your assignment. Please, try to avoid anyone without a partner for the duration of the exam. It will be difficult to explain away the fact I give you that special role."

"Of course."

Ozpin nods appreciatively before taking a sip of his mug, Obsidian already having gotten low to the ground feels the mechanism below spin. And then send him sailing. The initiation exam has begun!


	3. Chapter 3

**A/N: This fanfic is inspired by another discontinued (I believe it is) fanfic. "Of Heroes and Monsters" by Yiuceht. I do not own RWBY or any content I may add in the future. Reviews are strongly encouraged. Thank you and without further adieu-**

**The Shadow of Remnant**

…

Chapter 3:

"Birdie nooo!"

Obsidian watches at the rear of the group of first-year prospects. Ruby went sailing through some crow flying above the Emerald Forest. She displays her quick thinking, by using the recoil of her high-caliber sniper rifle she can slow her momentum down. Then using her scythe's natural form, she swings from a branch to slow herself down to a much more manageable pace before landing.

That heiress, of course, used her family's hereditary semblance to create platforms to land on before gracefully letting her feet touch the forest floor. Ren digs one of his blades into a tree and somehow uses it to curl around it before touching the ground.

Nora and Yang, on the other hand, had different ideas compared to their peers. The two seemed to be having a race as they use the recoil of their weapons to speed them up in the air. Each sailed over the rest of the students easily and went the furthest before using the trees to catch themselves.

Pyrrha Nikos was an unstoppable force as she held her shield forward, bashing and shattering through tree after tree as she made her way to the ground. But instead of falling to the forest floor, she uses a branch to land in a high position. With the high ground, the scarlet girl scans the area, a very smart move, and proceeds to save the screaming Jaune Arc as he flails through the sky. Not a smart move. But very impressive throw.

Obsidian, on the other hand, keeps his momentum moving by tucking his limbs into his body. The teen is trying to get into the center of all the prospects. If the Goliath shows up, he'll be able to respond quickly in almost any direction. If people don't stray too far from the path to the temple. Which has the teen looking up at the sun. It's before noon so, he easily orients himself to the North. And as he feels his momentum slow and gravity takes hold of his form, he flips.

With the flip, Obsidian kicks out his right leg while tucking back his left. Each branch he passes gets shattered under his foot until he hits the ground. His right foot digs into the ground hard and his left lands much easy to keep himself balanced. The momentum carried him several meters, kicking up dirt behind him as he slows to a stop.

He looks back, a trench is left in his wake and it just so happens to face North. If a student gets lost, he or she could try to follow it. Obsidian looks around and scans the environment once again before making his way North. He'd move slow to make the sure the stragglers aren't caught by the Goliath without him.

…..

Ozpin stands at the edge of Beacon Cliffs overlooking the Emerald Forest. He holds that signature cane in hand along with a tablet to display video feeds from the cameras within the forest. Glynda with her own tablet walks up to the headmaster.

"Our last pair is formed, sir. Nora Valkyrie and Lie Ren." Glynda gives a small frown. "Poor boy… I can't imagine those two getting along." And then a sour look forms on the 'good witch's' face as she changes her perspective to that of Pyrrha Nikos and Jaune Arc. "Still, I suppose he's getting along better than Miss Nikos. I don't care what his transcript says; that Jaune fellow is not ready for this level of combat."

With no response from Ozpin, she sighs and continues. "I suppose we'll find out soon enough. At their current pace, they should reach the temple in just a few minutes. Speaking of which, what did you use for relics this year?" She pauses for a moment as Ozpin stays transfixed to the screen in his hand. "Professor Ozpin?"

"Hm…" And there he watches Ruby Rose and Weiss Schnee. Not a good mix of personalities but he believes it will work out in the end. Ruby Rose has a good and honest heart that can win people over. Weiss, on the other hand, is a difficult person to deal with it seems.

He lets out a soft sigh as the pair argue, they're still children on the inside it seems. Even if they have trained to become warriors. And the apex of the fight leads to show how arrogant the Schnee is before they make their way toward the temple. Finally.

Ozpin turns his perspective to Obsidian Slade, he has yet to get into a fight with Grimm. Having set himself up in the center of most of the students has earned him that. But Ozpin can see the logic behind it. He won't interfere with the student's fights. They are to be graded and not given a free pass because Obsidian steps in to save them. But of course, the primary object was to ensure Obsidian could react if a student encounters the Goliath Grimm.

That part was clear to Ozpin. And he was glad for it. Even if Obsidian is the same age as the rest of the students, except Ruby Rose, he was by far the most experienced.

…..

Obsidian finds himself at the temple first. How? He doesn't know. He moved slow, for his pace. A pace that Huntsmen and Huntresses should be able to blow past him with. But then again, these are trainees. He shouldn't have expected much better. He picked up the black pawn piece and kept it in his pocket.

Luckily Obsidian didn't encounter anyone else during his journey to the temple. But he knows that those that do make it will be partnered up. So, no need to get chewed out by Ozpin for not following orders. If nothing else, Obsidian did follow instructions to the letter.

And Obsidian lets out an audible sigh, maybe this will just be a bust and the Goliath won't show up. He's hopeful at least. Ozpin had sent the teen a dossier on the Goliath. Heavily armored on most of its body. Massive in size and scale of destructive power. Fierce and is typically an older Grimm. Therefore, it doesn't run of basic instincts of Grimm, meaning it can somewhat think tactically. But the worst of it all is if it gets an opportunity, it will consume another Grimm to regenerate wounds.

Obsidian lets out another sigh as he leans back, he sat atop the stone pillars in the temple. Just lounging away to see if anything might happen. He had a feeling that Ruby girl would somehow cause something big to happen. Or Jaune. Those two would be the first to stumble into something as strong as a Goliath.

And then something catches his gaze, he saw it earlier, but it has been distracted and flailing a bit recently. The massive Nevermore Grimm flew erratically and then he caught the little bit of red and white ON the crow-like monster. Of course, Ruby is on top of it. Why not?

"Hey! Obsidian got here already!" Yang waves at Obsidian as she and Blake walk into the temple ruins.

Obsidian's gaze turns back down to the temple to find Yang and that girl in black. He leans forward gives a small wave, trying his best not to look down Yang's revealing top. She of course notices and gives a grin before she looks around.

"So, these are the relics? Some of them are missing…" The yellow girl looks around at the pedestals and inspects the pieces.

"Yeah, other teams got here before me too," Obsidian notes as he looks around. About 4 other pairs have found their relics and left beside himself.

"Well, I guess we should pick one." The girl in black suggests as the two girls continue to look around. A short silence falling among the three prospects.

"AIIIEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEE!" A scream cuts through the silence of the temple as the duo decides on their relic. Obsidian ignores it and lets his gaze turn up again to the Grimm carrying Weiss and Ruby.

"A girl's in trouble! Blake, did you hear that?!"

Both Blake and Obsidian had their eyes turned up; since Ruby had leaped off the Nevermore. From several hundred feet in the air. Obsidian decides to cut in, "Yang, your sister is falling from the sky."

"Heads up..!" Yang quickly turns and poises herself to catch her little sister as the little red girl screams. Obsidian can hear a faint scream of a man for but a moment before Jaune Arc slams into Ruby mid-air and sends them both into a tree.

"Did your sister just fall from the sky…?" Blake deadpans. Obsidian in the meanwhile jumping off from the top of the temple and landing among the group.

"And get slammed into by Jaune." Obsidian points out.

"I…" Yang slouches in defeat. Not really understanding what's happening.

And suddenly a girl in pink and white with orange hair comes barreling into the clearing of the temple. On top of an Ursa.

"Yeeeeehawww!" And with a final roar, the large bear-like Grimm flops to the ground dead. "Aww, it's broken."

And in comes her partner, the calm and collective boy that seemed to struggle to keep up with her partner's shenanigans. "Nora! Please, don't do that again." He gasps out as he breathes heavily, leaning up against the corpse of the Ursa. His purple eyes look over to find his partner gone from on top of the Ursa.

"Ooooh…" Nora is already in the temple, eyeing the Rook piece. She grins before grabbing the piece and putting in on her head. "I'm the queen of the castle! I'm the queen of the castle~"

"NORA!"

"Coming Ren!"

"Did that girl just ride in on an Ursa?" Blake the ever-observant deadpans once again.

And like a chain of catastrophes meant to happen, Pyrrha Nikos runs into the clearing with a scorpion-like Grimm chasing after her. "Jaune!" The Deathstalker swings at her wildly as it scuttles after the skilled warrior.

"Pyrrha!" Jaune calls out, he jumps down the tree with Ruby leading the way to the temple.

"Ruby?" Yang asks as if her sister really did just fall out of the sky after riding on top of a Nevermore.

"Yang!" Ruby smiles, finally able to find her sister among the chaos and having to deal with the Schnee heiress. The sisters about to embrace when suddenly an orange head of hair pops up between them.

"Nora!"

"Did she just run in with a Deathstalker on her tail?" Blake once more gives a dumbfounded look.

Yang doesn't understand what's happening and this all just adds up to too much. She feels anger fill her veins and power flood her body as her semblance automatically turns on. Her hair is lit ablaze while her eyes turn a bright, menacing red. "I CAN'T TAKE IT ANYMORE! CAN EVERYONE JUST CHILL OUT FOR 2 SECONDS BEFORE SOMETHING CRAZY HAPPENS?!" Yang slouches while regaining her composure, the entire group just standing there for a few moments before Ruby decides to break the news.

"Uhm… Yang?" The little timid red girl pokes at her sister before pointing up. The Schnee heiress hung on for dear life to the Nevermore still.

"How could you leave me?!" Weiss cries out, the Nevermore circles the temple as it shrieks out into the sky.

"I said jump…" Ruby whines. Yang still had her entire body slouched in defeat. It seems like this test is going to be just a series of unfortunate events. Nora, on the other hand, had her hands in the 'okay' pose while she looked up. Ren and Blake both seemed calm and Obsidian just looked up bored. Why doesn't she just jump off and use what she used before for her landing strategy?

"She's gonna fall." Blake.

"She'll be fine." Ruby.

"She's falling." Ren.

Obsidian steps up to the group as everyone just watches the heiress flail her arms around in a panic while she plummets to the ground. He finally sighs before pointing out the obvious. "Can she not just use what she used before to land?"

"Oh… yeah!" Ruby seems to regain bearing on her brain before she cups her hands around her mouth. "Just use your landing strategy!"

That finally brings realization upon the Schnee, she spins in the air to aim her feet down. The 'perfect' princess finally uses her glyphs to create platforms to jump on and from and finally she lands in front of the group of teens.

And the collective feeling of relief is cut short as Pyrrha is caught by a wild swing from the Deathstalker. Sending her flailing body onto the ground in front of the group with an "Oof!"

"Great! Now the gang's all here! Now we can die together!" Yang chirps out too happily in this ludicrous situation.

"Not if I can help it!" Ruby calls out confidently, she pulls out her scythe and sprints into the Deathstalker barreling toward the teens.

"Ruby, wait!" Yang calls out to her sister before the little scythe wielder fires off a sniper round and swings at the Deathstalker. Only for it to slap her away with a pincer.

Ruby recovers with her back to the Grimm, a bad idea of course as she calls out to her sister. "Don't worry! Totally fine!" A shriek from the Deathstalker causes Ruby to turn tail and run back to the group with the large scorpion chasing after her.

"Ruby!" Yang sprints into action to meet her sister and help the little that's in over her head. Obsidian frowns, he didn't want to get into it. But… he too sprints forward. He quickly overtakes the blonde in a blur along with a white blur following behind him.

The Nevermore made its way back around to face the teens and with a flap of its wings, it sends a hail of massive and razor-sharp feathers against Ruby and her sister. Ruby feels her cape get caught on a feather while Yang is forced to dodge and not get impaled.

"Ruby! Get out of there!" Yang cries out, she runs around the trail of feathers and notices the two blurs already much closer to her sister.

"I'm trying!" Ruby calls back, she yanks and yanks on her cloak, but it doesn't give. And then her silver eyes fall on the Deathstalker reeling its tail back. That stinger intent on piercing her through. She freezes entirely and shuts her eyes. This is the end!

"You are so childish…" Weiss's voice signals she might not be dead, so she timidly opens her eyes and looks up to find Obsidian using his right hand to hold the glowing stinger back. Along with a massive block of ice just past him freezing half the scorpion's form. Weiss turns back to the girl in red before she continues her rant. "And dimwitted and hyperactive. And don't get me started with your fighting style. And I suppose… I'm a bit difficult to deal with. But if we're going to do this. We have to do this together. And if you stop trying to show off. I'll be a bit… nicer."

"I don't want to show off." Ruby's gaze falls to the grassy earth below with a frown, only taking a moment before she looks up to Weiss. "I want to show you I can do this!"

"You're fine." Weiss acquiesces. Both girls turn to the young man as he lets go of the stinger. With it being frozen, there's no point in him holding it after all. Ruby doesn't quite get why he was holding onto it, but Weiss saw. "You're… quite strong."

Weiss saw him get there far before her and grab onto the stinger. His heels dug into the ground hard in front of Ruby and he stopped it dead in its tracks. Weiss was able to freeze a majority of the Deathstalker thanks to him ensuring Ruby would be saved.

"Thanks… both of you?"

Ruby looks between the two with confusion before Yang glomped her, pulling the little girl into her chest. "I'm so happy you're okay!"

The duo looks up to the Nevermore circling the temple before they follow Obsidian moving back to the main group.

"Guys! That thing is circling back." Jaune nervously points up to the Nevermore as it does seem to circle around to come after them.

"Look, there's no sense in dilly-dallying. Our objective is right in front of us." Weiss crosses her arms as she gestures at the relics on the pedestals.

Everyone seems a little nervous about the two Grimm. The Deathstalker still struggles and wildly flails against the ice it is stuck in. Ruby steps up, a fire burning in her eyes. "Weiss is right, our mission is to grab an artifact and make it back to the cliff. There's no point in fighting these things."

"Run and live, that's an idea I can get behind." Jaune smiles before the remaining pairs claim their relics. Jaune and Ruby smile at each other before returning to the other teams.

"It's time we've left!" Ren points out as the Nevermore gets closer and that Deathstalker seemed to be getting nearer to breaking loose.

"Right, let's move!" Ruby calls out as she moves in the direction of the cliffs. The correct direction thankfully.

Yang stays behind as she watches her little sister with a proud smile on her face, a hand on her hip. Her partner, Blake comes up next to her with a confused look, "… what is it?"

"Nothing," Yang says before following the group, Blake gives an understanding smile.

Obsidian frowns as he looks back at the Deathstalker. Why not finish it now? It will only have use of a single pincer. The question is not if the Deathstalker will break free but when, and when it does, it will catch up to the group quickly. Obsidian shrugs before running after the group.

…..

The group made it back to ruins just below the cliffs with the Nevermore already ahead of them. The massive black bird landing atop the highest tower in the ruins and giving a shriek. Each teen with their partner takes cover behind fallen walls several hundred feet before the crevice that separates the forest from the cliffs.

"Well, that's great!" Yang whines, taking a peek at the bird before the Deathstalker does catch up and barrel through the forest. Flattening trees in its wake as it gives chase to the prospects.

"Aw man run!" Jaune calls out to the group, Obsidian rolls his eyes. If they had taken care of it beforehand then they wouldn't need to deal with both. But he would try not to interfere unless need be. He wouldn't let these students die in front of him.

The group moves, Ren and Nora the last ones in the pack. Ren turns to his partner with a nod, "Nora, distract it!"

Nora grins in response as she moves first, the crow Grimm flaps its mighty wings and sends a hail of feathers toward the orange haired girl. Which allows Ren the opportunity to move and catch up to the rest of the group. Nora, on the other hand, pulls out her weapon, a massive hammer that turns into a grenade launcher.

Nora fires off a volley of grenades at the Nevermore and forces it to retreat. While the Nevermore is sent flying away, the Deathstalker reaches Nora. Obsidian moves faster than the other students as he slashes at its pincers before it can make a move. The armor is too thick for his arm-blades to cut through, but it is enough to distract it.

Weiss returns to Nora and uses a glyph for the pair to retreat. Obsidian moves toward and scorpion Grimm and kicks off from its face before turning to run with the group. Pyrrha and Ren are already taken a position to provide covering fire for the retreat on the narrow bridge. Every person made it on but the Nevermore had circled back already. The massive creature runs straight through the bridge and separates the group into two groups. Yang, Weiss, Ruby, Jaune, and Nora on one side. Blake, Obsidian, Pyrrha, and Ren on the other.

The teens recover from the wreckage, Jaune and Nora look back at their partners. Blake slashes and cuts at the Deathstalker but is summarily slapped back onto the bridge for her efforts. Pyrrha takes potshots at it from the back with her rifle as Ren takes Blake's place to cut at and distract the Deathstalker. Obsidian runs in behind him, the ex-mercenary slides underneath the Deathstalker. Armor underneath too? Great. He quickly rolls out from under it to the creature's left side and slashes at its legs. He gets two of them before the stinger turns to him and aims to impale him.

He quickly reacts and falls back. Jaune turns to Nora, "we have to help them! But I can't make this jump…"

Nora grins, pulling out her grenade launcher and pushes Jaune back. She turns as she twirls the weapon into a hammer and smashes the piece of bridge Jaune stands opposite on. He is subsequently sent sailing through the air and into the group across the chasm. Nora turns and stands on her hammer, pressing the trigger to use the recoil to send her flying over the group fight.

Nora does a flip before bashing against the hard shell of the Deathstalker. She quickly sees the stinger aimed at her and uses the recoil of her weapon once more to fall back. This results in Nora slamming her back against Blake, sending her into the chasm.

Obsidian looks over the side of the cliff and sees the quick wits of the girl in action. She grabs her weapon and ties one end of the ribbon to her wrist and sends the weapon itself hurtling toward the opposite end of the gorge. She uses the ribbon to swing toward the Nevermore. Blake uses her semblance and agility to land slashes and cuts at its tough hide before landing with her partner, Weiss, and Ruby.

Obsidian watches the group fire off a barrage against the Nevermore. But the beast isn't taken down, instead it barrels through the tower they stand on. Among the rubble, he sees the girls are agile and quick and make their way up to the remains of the tower again.

The ex-mercenary looks back to the other group as the Deathstalker frees its stinger from the ground. He hears Jaune call out as the bridge begins to collapse from the damage, "we gotta move!"

That sends that group into action with Pyrrha leading off the charge and deflecting one pincer from the Deathstalker. Pyrrha retaliates with a quick jab of her spear against the Grimm's face. But was met with armor. Before the scorpion's other pincer strikes her, Jaune steps up and blocks. The fact he was able to stand his ground is rather impressive as Pyrrha leaps up and lands a jab from her spear onto the pincer. The duo falls back to the edge of the cliff as Ren begins pelting it with a spray from his guns.

The young man leaps up and dodges the stinger, clinging to it as he unloads his clip into the joint between the glowing stinger and its tail. As a reward, Ren was flung away by the Deathstalker and sent into a wall. Hard. Nora fires off a volley of grenades as she calls out, "Ren!"

Pyrrha pulls her arm back and fires off a round and throws her spear which lands in one of the Deathstalker's many eyes. Jaune recovers from their retreat the slowest but notices how the stinger was barely hanging onto the Deathstalker's tail. The blonde boy turns to his partner, she notices it too. "Do it!"

"Done!" With that, Pyrrha pulls her shield arm back and flings her shield at the tail. It curves in mid-air and is enough to remove the stinger from the tail. The stinger, as a result, pierces the Deathstalker's armor easily.

"Nora! Nail it!"

"Heads up!" Pyrrha turns in a blink, her shield returned after her throw, and she brings her shield up as Nora jumps up on top. Pyrrha leaps as Nora fires off a grenade to send her high in the air. Nora fires off another grenade at the apex of her flight and comes crashing down with her hammer into the back of the stinger. Sending the stinger deep into the Deathstalker's core and killing it.

The bridge collapses entirely and sends the remainder of the group over the Deathstalker, Pyrrha recovers her spear as the beast falls into the pit. Obsidian nods, they have great chemistry together. He looks over the cliff and sees the last of the Grimm fall to its demise in the seemingly endless chasm. But then he sees a small ledge closer to the fog.

And a hand reaches out to grab at the edge of an opening in the side of the cliff. That must be the Goliath. He frowns as he looks back at the team that finished the Deathstalker. They seemed exhausted after running all day and fighting off that Grimm. Their eyes were fixated upon the other group's fight. His eye homes in on Yang as she… jumps into the Nevermore's mouth and unloads into it.

You know, he's seen worse ideas today. He watches as she leaps out and the Grimm crashes into the side of the cliff. Both recover quickly. Yang runs back to the rest of her team as Weiss and Ruby run toward the Grimm.

Weiss leaps up and freezes the Nevermore's tail to the ruins below as Yang makes it back to her team. Yang and Blake use her ribbon to create a slingshot as Ruby fires off from her weapon and leaps onto the ribbon. Weiss was at the ready behind her. And after just a moment, they send the little red girl flying into the Grimm.

Ruby uses her sniper rifle to maintain momentum until she hooks her scythe around the Nevermore's neck. Weiss sets up a trail of glyphs up the cliff side and Ruby begins to sprint full speed up it. Shot after shot leaves her weapon until she reaches the apex of the cliff and cleaves the Grimm's head from its neck.

"Wow…"

There is a silence that begets the chaos that just occurred. Each teen was clearly spent from their fights and tribulations during the initiation. But rumbling soon breaks the silence.

"**RAGHHH**"

And a howling, no a mighty roar from something else gets the teens to investigate the chasm. Obsidian looks over the edge and falls back, "GET BACK FROM THE EDGE!" Ren, Jaune, Pyrrha, and Nora all listen and turn tail. Ruby, Weiss, Yang, and Blake look down to find the biggest Grimm they've ever seen climb up the chasm.

It only takes a few moments for a massive hand, something that could grab any of them and crush them in a moment, to land on the edge of the cliff. And over clambers the Goliath. The name of Goliath wasn't for show. It easily reached 30 meters in height, it looked vaguely human in shape.

But those beading, predatory red eyes, the white as bone armor and the black as the night skin told them otherwise. It seemed human but had massive forearms and calves. Practically no wrist and no ankle.

It had armored practically from head to toe. Obsidian noted that it seemed especially thick on its forearms and shins. But it had openings in areas where it needed to move easily. The armpit, the neck, the chelidon (elbow pit or opposite side of the elbow) and inner thighs. Most likely some areas in the back and the back of the knee too would be open.

He turns to the other teens by him, they looked on with a mixture of horror and anxiety. Even Pyrrha Nikos was anxious to fight this. He sighed before nudging Jaune. "Take the rest of them to the cliffs. Make sure the other group doesn't come here either. I'll hold it off."

"… what?! You're gonna fight that thing on your own?!" The rest of the teens turn to him as he nods.

"Yes, I knew this was here and I was saving my stamina for it. But the rest of you need to get out of here. One direct hit from something like this might just kill you."

Pyrrha is the next to step up, "and what about you?"

"I'll hold it at bay until you make it to the cliffs."

Pyrrha looks back at Jaune, he seemed taxed just by running here. And then at Ren, he got hit hard during their battle with the Deathstalker and he was still recovering. Nora though seemed ready to go.

"You'll need to stay together in case more Grimm find you." As if Obsidian was reading their minds, he turns as the Goliath faces them. Waiting for a few moments before it begins to move. By turning and picking a massive stone column. "Now GO!"

Obsidian moves before it advances on the group. The Goliath in response reels its hand back and tries to crush the boy as he ran straight into it. With the strength of something that size, he knows that will straight out flatten him. Obsidian dodges to the side and grabs hold onto a jagged piece of armor. He jerks out his arm to pull out the blade and jabs at the soft part of the Goliath's thumb.

The beast roars in pain as it drops the pillar, Obsidian leaping off from the beast as it tries to swing at him with the other hand. But instead of backing up and being up in the force of the swing, Obsidian moves forward. He slides between its legs and finds that it indeed is missing armor at the back of the knee. He quickly jabs his drawn blade into the beast's right knee.

The beast roars once again in response. Obsidian jerks his other arm and pulls the blade from the monster's knee. He begins to sprint off to the side of the Grimm. But not before he lands a clean slice on the back of that same knee.

As Obsidian falls back to the monster's right, his left eye darts around to find that the group of teens with him did fall back. But during his lapse of attention, the Goliath swings its right arm out. The arm itself missed but the sheer force of the blow sent rocks and earth scattering. Obsidian is sent tumbling into the wall of some ruins, the rocks, and earth almost burying him.

The teen turns and finds the Goliath still on both feet, but it is clear that it heavily favors the uninjured leg. And it stomps over to Obsidian. He could feel the very ground beneath him shake from the sheer weight of each step. The ex-mercenary moves to excavate himself and he's forced to dive out of the way as soon as he does.

Obsidian turns back to where he was just a split second ago, the column that Grimm grabbed before was stuck into the earth. It used its left hand to throw the object like a spear. That lone crimson eye turns back to meet the beady and hungry crimson of the Grimm. The similarities between him and Grimm were not lost but he had no time to be distracted!

Obsidian sprints toward the tree line with the Goliath moving to stay on his tail. For such a large monster, it moved quickly. He doesn't make it as he's forced to dive out of the way of a boulder being sent at him. The Goliath wants to use its size to its advantage in an open area. Obsidian frowns in response before turning back.

He's just going to have to try to fight it here. His eye darts to the surroundings, trying to find a place more compact and favorable. But doesn't find much. Obsidian dives out of the way of a coming hand as it crashes into the ground. The teen moves fast to capitalize as he uses the Grimm's arm to leap up to get to its face.

But the Goliath swats at Obsidian with its other hand, the boy in response uses his right leg to kick off and ensure he isn't crushed in that palm. The teen lands on his feet close to some ruin's walls. And he decides to run up the wall and stand on top. The wall only reached about 9 meters high. He was barely at the Grimm's thigh.

Obsidian wasn't tired, but he knew if he kept just running, he'd tire himself out before he could land a decisive blow against the Grimm. So, he pours aura into his body and he could feel it immediately. The strength that begins to overflow in his form. Dark veins begin to spread up to his jawline as he keeps up the flow. The massive Grimm charges at Obsidian, both arms stretched out to grapple the human boy. But Obsidian sees the gap, he sees the opening. And he pushes off the ruined wall, the wall itself crumpling and shatter the moment his right foot leaves it. And the teen moves faster than the Goliath can respond.

Obsidian rams both his blades into the Grimm's right eye, the force of the impact sends the Grimm onto its back. The earth-shattering beneath the Goliath's weight as it writhes in pain and roars out once more. Obsidian pulls his arm-blades out and retreats to the opposite end of the clearing, to the other set of ruins. Another time and he could possibly blind this thing.

Obsidian turns to look at his opponent and finds it still reeling. He quickly turns, not one to miss this opportunity as it rolls in pain. He got closer and closer, he could take out an arm if he can just get-

"**RAGGGH!**" And suddenly the Grimm turns, that single red eye meeting red. It baited him! And with a mighty swing, the Goliath catches Obsidian off guard. Time slowed as the boy tried to curl up in time to alleviate the force of the swing. But it was too no avail as he feels his entire skeleton rattle and shake, his organs shifting, and his body sent into the tree line.

Obsidian tumbles and rolls and feels the powerful impact of a tree meet his spine. "AH!" He involuntarily cries it as he comes to a rough stop. His clothes were torn apart from the rough tumble and his eye path is off. He can feel the cold wind against the old wound. He clenches his teeth as his eye opens, the Grimm makes to stand up and finish him but makes the mistake of putting its weight on its injured leg.

The Goliath crumples to the ground again as Obsidian struggles to his feet, his back pressed up against the tree. His body protests with pain. He might've broken a few ribs from that. But other than the ribs, he felt he was okay. The teen was thankful his right side took the brunt of the blow.

But still, that shook his brain up pretty well and the edge of his vision began to blur. He shook his head and felt it begin to disappear as he recovered, his eye went back to the Goliath and found that it was almost up.

Obsidian grunts as he pushes off the tree and fills his body with as aura once again; that dark vein spreading further up to just about his right cheek as he sprints at the Grimm. His body protests but he fights through. He gets behind the Goliath before it can make its recover and aims for the uninjured leg.

Obsidian spun and drove his blades through the back of the Goliath's left knee. Cutting deep on the first strike and almost cutting through on the next. The monster falls to its knees, his hands catching it before it falls fully.

The boy is thankful that the adrenaline is numbing his pain, but he must finish this quickly. Or he might just die before he can use the opportunity Ozpin gave him.

'**Then use us…**'

"Not yet." Obsidian spits out, the Goliath then turns and lunges. Well, as best as it could with no leg use. Its hand digs into the ground as it uses its right hand to smash the little pest to a pancake.

Obsidian dives to the beast's right and runs around it, making sure to move around the second hand before he gets behind it again. He digs both blades into the soft armpit and pulls down. Rending the black flesh into pieces before Obsidian retreats from the Goliath.

The massive Grimm feels its arm not respond and it lost the other hand's thumb use. No legs either. And missing an eye. The Goliath reels back and faces the sky.

"**RAAAAAAAAAAGHHHHHHHHHH**"

…..

"We have to help him!" Jaune and his group made it back to regroup with Ruby's group. And the full group was able to Ozpin safe and sound, they encountered some Grimm on the journey but no major injuries.

Ren was tired and knew he had a concussion from that Deathstalker. Nora and Pyrrha had the energy to go down to help, Jaune himself wasn't able but he was willing. Yang, Ruby, Weiss, and Blake were all ready and able to go although a bit winded.

The stoically clam Ozpin stood at the edge of the cliff watching the fight. The boy was skilled, but Ozpin wasn't sure if he'd make it out of this. Nonetheless, he had to ensure the rest of the students would be safe. A hard decision. "As I said before, instructors will not intervene. And you will not either. You have finished the exam and are to go to the infirmary to get any injured tended to."

"He's fighting that thing off, so we could make it up here!"

"I agree with Jaune, Professor. He meant to buy us some time before following us." Pyrrha steps up next to Jaune, a small frown on her face due to the headmaster's decision.

"And if you want to put his efforts in vain, then you will do as I've told you." Ozpin's cool gaze falls on Pyrrha. Who shrinks under his gaze. He's right in a way… yet she can't help but feel they left him there to die.

"But, we can't just leave him! That Grimm is too strong!" Ruby pipes up, her voice radiating urgency as she steps up as well.

"You should have some faith in your friends. He will survive." Ozpin once again tries to keep the students away. The Goliath is an irregular Grimm that Huntsmen and Huntresses-in-training would have no chance against. Obsidian was a separate case though.

Pyrrha looks back again to Ren and Nora. And she gives a sigh, "Jaune, Professor Ozpin is right. We should have some faith in Obsidian."

"**RAAAAAAAAAAGHHHHHHHHHH**"

The roar cuts through the tension as Jaune, Pyrrha, and Ruby run to the side to find the Goliath on its knees and howling to the sky. The entire forest seemed to shake, the birds flee in a panic. Obsidian stands back from the Goliath until it finishes roaring.

And then everyone sees it, the red eyes of the Grimm swarming the tree line and running toward the Goliath and teen. Dozens of them swarm in. Ursa, Beowolves Boartusks, and even two King Taijitu horde into the clearing. Ozpin is left baffled as the teens could only look in horror as the Goliath starts a massacre and begins devouring the Grimm that pour into the clearing.

…..

As the beast finishes roaring, Obsidian stands by warily. He didn't know what that might've been for, but he had to be careful. This was no normal Grimm by any means. And the Goliath's gaze turns away from its opponent to the forest. Obsidian follows its line of sight and feels his heart stop for a moment.

The distinct red, glowing, hungry eyes of Grimm. Dozens of them begin to pour in. Many different species among the horde as they flood the clearing. Some of them move toward the Goliath while others run to Obsidian for a fresh meal. He must stop them from getting close or-

"**CRUNCH CRUNCH CRUNCH CRUNCH**"

And the Goliath has already begun cannibalizing the other Grimm. Obsidian moves but feels his ribs crack; a Beowolf already pouncing at him. He ducks under those claws and drives a blade into the bottom of the beast's skull and throws it to the side.

More circle around Obsidian, Boartusks, Beowolves, even a King Taijitu. Damnit. He has to save as much aura as possible to deal with the Goliath. Not these small fries. He frowns deeply before moving first, he sprints at the King Taijitu and the monster in response lunges with the white half. He dives underneath quickly and drives his blade into the underbelly of the beast.

It hisses back in response before he runs at the second half, jumping over the lunge this time and landing on its head. He drives his blade deep into its skull and twists. The serpentine Grimm twitches for but a moment before both halves drop to the floor.

A trio of Beowolves clambers over the corpse of the dual headed snake and lunge for Obsidian. He dives past the first, rolls under the second and cleaves the head off the third. He turns back to the other two but is met with a Boartusk ramming into his side.

Obsidian gasps as he feels his ribs creak and rub against one another as his back hits the wall. He lets out a pained groan as he collapses to the ground.

'**Use us… you will die…**'

"Not yet…" The teen spits out, he struggles back to his feet and gets barreled into by a Beowolf. Which earns the Grimm a blade through the skull. But it still was able to dig its claws into his sides. His right side was unmarred, but he felt the blood begin to flow from the left side of his back.

He groans as he pushes off the wall, another Beowolf deciding to lunge at him, as he ducks and drives his blade through its head as well. He tosses the corpse aside and looks around. More Grimm are surrounding him, the Goliath began to rise to its feet. It clearly had its eye back and Obsidian guessed that it was fully healed. Meanwhile, he had to deal with the horde in front of him and then fight that thing again.

He frowns and hangs his head in defeat, "well. It was nice for a day."

But before Obsidian could do anything, hell rained onto the ground. Explosions fell onto the clearing and the Grimm in front of him. Purple-pink and red-yellow rained down and destroyed the Grimm. He looks up and sees Nora and Yang falling from the sky. Followed by Ruby and Pyrrha.

Pyrrha, Ruby, and Nora land in front of him and begin to clear out the Grimm. Obsidian's eye catches the Goliath merely waiting. It was waiting for an opportunity to strike. He frowns deeply as Yang gently guides his back against a wall.

"Why are you here...? I told Jaune for everyone to leave this to me."

"And let you get killed? Yeah no. We're Huntsmen and Huntresses. No man left behind! No matter how stupid." Yang smiles as she begins to inspect his wounds.

He shakes his head at her attempt at a joke, pushing her away as she tries to inspect his wounds. "That Grimm at the back will kill you."

"We're here to save-"

"I don't need anyone to save me." Obsidian grunts out, he finally notices the darkness at the edge of his vision begin to move in. He grits his teeth and stands shakily on his feet. Pain radiated from his left side. But this was nothing.

"God and here I thought Blake was moody!"

Obsidian shakes his head again before looking over to Ruby as she expertly cuts through Beowolf and Boartusk alike. Just beside Ruby was Nora, hammering away at Ursa and sending them sailing. And beside Nora was Pyrrha fighting off the other King Taijitu.

Then everyone feels the ground shake, but those fighting do not let the distraction get to them as they fight off Grimm. But Obsidian spots the Goliath running, actually jogging but running, at Ruby.

Yang catches on as she runs after him to her sister, "Ruby!"

Obsidian fills his body with the rest of his aura and disappears into a blur, he pushes Ruby out of the way of a Beowolf's slash. Earning three deep cuts across his chest before the Goliath's swing takes both Obsidian and the Beowolf into its palm.

Obsidian curls up his left arm in a guard and poises his right arm's blade into the Beowolf as they get swept up. The Beowolf gets impaled through the neck, but Obsidian feels the force rattle his body again. His left arm breaking with a sickening crack as he's sent careening into the wall of a ruin. The wall giving way for the boy and Grimm.

Pyrrha finishes off the King Taijitu and can catch the tail end of the hit from the Goliath. Watching in horror as Obsidian is sent through a wall and debris scattering around the fresh hole.

Nora bashes the skull in of a Beowolf before she catches the entire thing. Obsidian diving and pushing Ruby out of the way, taking the hit from the Beowolf. Subsequently, he is sent sailing from that monstrously powerful swipe and into a wall.

Yang could only watch as Obsidian saves her sister and gives himself up. But she pushes through and picks up her sister before pulling back to the other two. The Grimm in the area seemed to have gotten scattered by that swipe or killed by the four newcomers.

Ruby didn't even really realize what had happened. She was about to block a Beowolf before she was sent sprawling into the ground. Then a powerful gust of wind blows past her. And she's in her sister's arms with the others. Except… Obsidian?

"Yang… what happened?"

Ruby follows her sister's gaze to a hole in the ruin's walls. The dust hasn't settled yet there which meant it was a freshly made hole and realization dawned on Ruby. She looks over at the Goliath which stood over where she once stood.

She feels something come up her throat, Obsidian blocked an attack from the Goliath for her. He. He gave up his life for her. She felt tears begin to well up in her eyes. Barely a few days into Beacon and she gets someone killed!

The Goliath didn't need to care about dead men, so it turned to the frozen teens and stomped forward. But before it could get the second step onto the ground, an absurdly powerful force rams into its head. And it loses its right eye again. Pain erupts as it is sent tumbling to the ground, squashing some extra Grimm.

The wielder of the blade twists it inside the socket before turning. The Goliath's hands come up to smash whatever was on its face. The right hand comes down first but before it touches the Grimm's own face, a blade is driven right through its hand. The owner of the blade can hold back the Grimm's hand with their own strength before pulling the blade up and cutting the Grimm's hand in two.

The Grimm cries out in anguish as its other hand comes down to smash the person, this time the blade is slashed through all 4 fingers. The Grimm writhes and turns over, its elbows sink into the earth as it gets in motion to rise to its feet. But the person slashes through the Grimm's throat, and again, and again and the Goliath's body refuses to answer. The blade cuts deeper and deeper until barely anything is left to connect the Goliath's head to its body.

The Goliath opens its eye to find Obsidian standing there with his eye glowing, akin to that of Grimm. His right arm reaching up and grabbing at the space between its eyes. By using its sockets as a means to get a grip, Obsidian gouges out its other eye with just his thumb.

The Goliath prepares to pull back and release a roar to gather more Grimm but before it could do that, a strong force begins to yank on its barely attached head. The Goliath can't even struggle as its head gets brutally torn off its shoulders.

Ruby, Yang, Nora, and Pyrrha stare in shock. All they really saw was a black bullet slam into the Grimm sending it to the floor. Then Obsidian is suddenly on its chest, slashing away at its hands. When the Goliath turns over, they are unable to see what happens next. But notes how the massive Grimm flops to the ground in a few short moments.

With the rest of the Grimm gone, the group runs around the corpse to check on Obsidian. The four reels back in surprise to find the teen standing before the now headless Goliath. Their eyes dart over to the head a few feet away from the teen. And then their collective gaze darts back to the mangled boy. His clothes were in tatters, blood pours from the wound on his chest and his left arm was clearly broken.

But there he stood, his now more 'normal' red eye staring back at the group as he pants. He slowly and weakly limps up to Ruby and looks her up and down. "You're okay, right?"

That breaks them out of it as Pyrrha comes up to support Obsidian. Yang the first one to audibly answer him. "Her?! What about you?!"

Obsidian looks as if he's confused, his eye is barely open as he wavers even with Pyrrha holding him up. His gaze travels down and inspects his body, "oh..." He doesn't feel the pain anymore, just a deep biting cold and emptiness. Could be from the blood loss and the shock.

And as if his body catches up with his mind, his eye rolls back in his head and he becomes dead weight. Pyrrha struggles to keep his full weight up but Yang quickly comes over to help her.

The group hears the sound of a bullhead in the sky and look up to spot it landing in an area free of the corpses. The doors open to Professor Peach with her scroll up to her ear. "Yes, Professor Ozpin. They're all okay, except… Obsidian!" She ends the call and stuffs her scroll in her coat's pocket. Peach then jumps out and comes up to Yang and Pyrrha as they drag him over to the doctor.

She quickly inspects him and checks his pulse, "he's still alive! We must get him back to campus! Get inside!"

…..

"Russel Thrush, Cardin Winchester, Dove Bronzewing, Sky Lark. You four have retrieved the black bishop pieces. From this day forward, you will be known as team CRDL. Led by Cardin Winchester." The crowd of prospects and families of the new first-year class claps and cheers for the new team.

"Jaune Arc, Lie Ren, Pyrrha Nikos, Nora Valkyrie. The four of you retrieved the white rook pieces. From this team you four will be known as team JNPR." Nora cheers and hugs Ren tight with a giggle before Ozpin continues. "Led by Jaune Arc."

Said blonde boy gives a confused look as Pyrrha smiles proudly, giving him a quick 'pat' on the back. Which sends the boy to the floor earning a laugh from the crowd.

"Blake Belladonna, Ruby Rose, Weiss Schnee, and Yang Xiao Long. The four of you retrieved the white knight pieces. From this day forward, you will be known as team RWBY." Weiss straightens slightly and grins, "Led by, Ruby Rose."

And then frowns as she looks over to her new team leader, HER?! Yang on the other hand smiles and hugs her sister, "I'm so proud of you!"

"Now… there is one more student that passed the test with flying colors. Breaking our expectations beyond what we believed to be possible. He sustained heavy injuries during the exam, so he is not in attendance. But please, if you do not believe he should be here. Take a look at this…"

And with that, the lights dim and the projectors play his fight with the Goliath. The crowd gasps from the sight of such a Grimm. The first scene shows him telling the newly dubbed team JNPR to retreat and running as the Grimm brings a massive column down on him. The cloud of dust blurring the camera's vision and moving onto the next scene of him on top of the ruin's wall and leaping up to take out the Grimm's eye. The crowd gives a surprised 'wow' before the scene changes once more to him taking out the Goliath's left leg followed by stabbing into the armpit opening in its armor.

Team JNPR and team RWBY has seen this all from the cliff after they fell back to get to Ozpin. They all felt anxious as they watched it, knowing full well that the boy could die in surgery while they celebrated here.

And then the screen changes to Obsidian pushing Ruby out of the way of the Goliath's final swing before being taken away. The crowd giving a horrified and surprised scream before the scene cuts once again to Obsidian cutting away at the beast's hands while he stood on the Goliath's chest.

"Obsidian Slade is a young man that has shown great skill, bravery, tenacity, and self-sacrifice. He will be getting the flexible role of as an Apprentice Huntsman. Being that, he will be able to join other teams on missions and assist in certain classes for teachings."

The crowd claps nonetheless, he was skilled, and he had saved Ruby Rose from a deadly looking strike. He was a hero in some of their eyes. But in some, they found it rather unfair. Some from the first-year's class that were not eyewitnesses to the massive Grimm, believed that they could have handled the Goliath.

Ozpin smiles as he turns to look up at the moon, taking a sip from his mug before he remarks out loud, "looks like things will be shaping up to be an interesting year…"


	4. Chapter 4

**A/N: ****This fanfic is inspired by another discontinued (I believe it is) fanfic. "Of Heroes and Monsters" by Yiuceht. I do not own RWBY or any content I may add in the future. Reviews are strongly encouraged. Thank you and without further adieu-**

**The Shadow of Remnant**

…

Chapter 4:

The steady beats from the monitoring equipment give little relief to the students standing outside of Obsidian Slade's hospital room. The group comprised of each member from teams RWBY and JNPR. The two teams watched as Professor Peach typed up something on a tablet before she set it down next to his bed.

The boy himself was sound asleep, his left arm in a cast and held in a harness above his stagnant form. His left leg was in a large and seemingly cumbersome brace also held in a harness above his bed. The rest of his body covered in the hospital blanket. IVs and monitoring cables ran into his neck to keep him hydrated and fed with nutrients to help his body along.

Peach stood there for a few moments with a small frown on her lips, she watched the video of him fighting that monster. Not the one that was showed to the students but the full video. He is skilled, that is true. But the way he moves sends a subtle message to her. He's reckless and knows the abnormality of his body.

The doctor found absolutely no problems from the right side of his body, even if she couldn't investigate closer. But there were no injuries sustained there. Just his left side's cracked ribs, broken left arm, and fractured left femur. But she saw how he used his right body and took a strike from the Goliath head on.

She sighs before turning her attention to the window, the teens were clearly worried and scared for the boy. Ruby seemed especially scared. So, Professor Peach picks up the tablet again and steps out of the room to greet them.

Ruby is the first one to run up to her, though eager, her voice is meek and unsure. "Is he… is he going to be okay?"

"Yes. He will be fine. The injuries are quite severe but with time, they will heal. He is a very resilient young man." Peach's gaze turns back to the teen in question and then back to Ruby, who slouched her shoulders and let out a relieved sigh. The rest of the teens also seemed to feel the tension leave their bodies. "But you're not allowed to see him yet, he will need rest. So, I have him under sedation for now."

Jaune is the next to speak up with a small smile, "good. He really fought something like that Grimm and won." He still couldn't believe it even after seeing the entire thing with his own eyes.

Peach gives a small smile to the group, "are you all his friends?"

The sudden and rather strange question raised a few brows from the group. Several of them looked at one another briefly before moving to their own thoughts.

Ruby was hoping he'd be her friend. Even after the trouble she caused on the first day, he was more than willing to join her and keep her company when Yang ditched her. She was surprised when he pushed her out of the way of the Goliath's swing and took it in her place. But… she knows he'll be a good friend!

Weiss frowned a bit, she barely spent any time with the young man. She only came to visit with her team since he did technically save her in a way. Holding that Grimm off to make sure her team could make it back to the cliffs. She did also help with the rescue effort, using the same strategy they used on the Nevermore, to send in Yang, Pyrrha, Ruby, and Nora. Weiss was rather indifferent.

Blake didn't know what to think of him. She thought she recognized him from someone else. But that someone else wouldn't have dove in the way of something like a Goliath to save a little girl. That man would've left her to die and use that opening to kill the Goliath. But he… was a good person.

Yang was fond of the boy. He would be easy to tease and mess with. He seems like a good guy and saved her sister. Nearly dying in the ruins from the Goliath to save Ruby. But something still bugged her, he was heavily injured after taking that hit. Shouldn't his aura shield protect him? And the sheer strength he displayed at the end of the fight was almost like her semblance. But he could control it. Nonetheless, Obsidian is a good guy.

Jaune was a little intimidated by the guy. That one eye seemed a little unnerving to him, but Obsidian seems like a nice guy. But then again, Obsidian saved his life and his team by fighting off the Goliath. So, a good guy. A friend possibly.

Pyrrha was impressed with him. In all her time as a champion and someone put up on a pedestal, she hasn't seen many that could contest with her. But Obsidian seemed to be much more skilled in real combat. With real experience. That bit worried her, he is the same age, right? But, a good heart behind it all does mean that he'd be a good friend.

Ren was just here to check up on the other teen since Obsidian had held off the Goliath. Ren isn't sure if he could've survived a fight with it after getting slammed into a wall by a Deathstalker. And Ren knows Nora just came here to stay with him, she was indifferent. In the way that she's just super friendly and ignorant. But Ren believes the boy could be a good friend.

Peach tries to keep her friendly smile, what a shame. Many of the students in front of her were unsure and had to really think about it. "I'm sorry, that was presumptuous of me."

"No… I want to be his friend!" Ruby chirps up eagerly as she jumps in front of the doctor. "He's a nice guy! And… and…"

With the sudden thought of how he nearly died because of her, her momentum is gone. Her silver gaze falls to the floor. But Yang suddenly comes up next, planting a firm hand on her sister's shoulder as she grins.

"I like him! He saved my baby sis!" Those lilac eyes fall on his still form, "I want him to get better soon so we can all get to know him better."

"Yeah same with the rest of us!" Jaune adds in.

"Well, I'm glad. But for now, you have classes starting Monday and he needs rest. So, go you should prepare in your dorms." Professor adjusts her big, round classes with a small smile as the students all drop their heads. Ah, the young and their distaste for learning.

…..

Ozpin looks down at the boy with his brown gaze, he takes a sip from his mug as the headmaster glances at the monitors. His eyes turn Professor Peach as she types on the tablet in her arms.

"So, what did you discover?"

Professor Peach sighs as she turns to face her boss, "it's like he's half, Grimm."

Ozpin's discomfort at that revelation was palpable. Only one person he knew of could create something like this…

"But, he isn't. The Grimm side would feel pain even if it was Grimm. That half of his body seems to be stemming from his semblance. A defense mechanism and a parasite. It drains his aura, but it also feeds his body power."

Ozpin unknowingly relieves the tension in his body by dropping his shoulders, his cool gaze returning as he regards the young man. When the students arrived to visit him, Peach made sure to cover him. The blankets up to his neck and some bandages over his cheek and chin.

But now, Peach had removed the covers to show the boy's torso and neck. It was like grasping veins vying to latch onto the rest of his body. The haunting similarities of those two were unsettling, but it seems he doesn't have a connection with _her_.

His entire right arm was black as night along with his right leg. Between those two, just his right side was taken over. A small fragment of his torso. But the darkness reached up to his neck and some thin veins sat on over his jawline to lick at his cheek and chin.

The rest of his body was seemingly fine. Save for the new injuries. Ozpin notes the scars that litter the boy's body. There is too many there. Ozpin can see bullet scars scattered across his torso. And what seems to be someone trying to cut through the left side of his stomach.

"Furthermore, it seems to feed into some sort of healing mechanism. His body is recovering much faster than I expected-"

Suddenly the monitoring equipment flat-lines. The constant beep turns their attention to the young man in the room pulling the cables from his body.

"Well hello, Mister Slade. I hope you're feeling alright." Ozpin gives a polite nod to the young man.

The throbbing in the young man's head forced him to take a moment of hesitation before nodding. Obsidian leans up and begins trying, keyword trying, to free himself of the pulley harness system.

"Obsidian, you should be resting." Peach is quickly on him and trying to push the teen down gently.

"I'm fine. I've dealt with worse." With that, he slaps away her hands and slides his cast out of the pulley which earns him a sharp glare. He leans forward again with a quiet groan to undo the pulley holding his leg up. "What happened to the Goliath?"

Ozpin and Peach share a confused look for a few moments before Ozpin turns back and clears his throat, "you killed it. You tore the Goliath's head off its shoulders. I'm very interested in how you did such a thing."

Obsidian turns his body and nudges himself over to the edge of the bed, he slides himself off the bed while being careful not to put too much weight on his left leg. "I see…"

Ozpin tilts his head in confusion, "do you not remember?"

"All I remember is jumping behind Ruby and getting hit by the Goliath. Nothing after that."

"I see… if that's the case, shall we show you what happened?"

…..

"Monsters! Deeeeeemons…. Prowlers of the night! Yes, creatures of Grimm have many names, but I merely refer to them as prey! Ha-ha!"

Obsidian sat on Professor's Port desk as the round man lectured on and on. Obsidian still has a cast on his left arm along with the clunky brace on his left leg. Hidden underneath, Obsidian had some thick bandages to support his movements for his ribs. He wore the khakis, dress shoes and the collared shirt that the school provides students. He also wore his wetsuit underneath and had his right sleeve rolled up and his gauntlet strapped onto there.

But the entire time he listens to the fat man lecture, in Obsidian's mind, this was so pointless. Just tell them the types of the damn Grimm and not derail what should be an easy subject.

Obsidian's lone crimson eye peeks over to team RWBY to find them in varying degrees of attention. Weiss took notes diligently, trying to be that perfect heiress. Blake and Yang both sit back and keep their attention on the Professor. Ruby though, was asleep.

"Uhhhh… and you shall too, upon graduating from this prestigious academy! Now, as I was saying: Vale, as well as the other three kingdoms, are safe havens in an otherwise treacherous world! Our planet is absolutely _teeming_ with creatures that would love nothing more than to tear you to pieces! And that's where we come in. Huntsmen! Huntresses…" Port gives Yang a quick wink which earns him a rather disgusted groan. "Individuals who have sworn to protect those who cannot protect themselves! From what, you ask? Why, the very world!"

The sudden cheer of a student stops the plump man. Port stands there for a few extra seconds before turning to Obsidian. "Now, Mister Slade. What do you believe are the characteristics of a Huntsman?"

Obsidian takes a moment to think, what it takes to be a Huntsman? Obsidian's lone eye scans through the crowd of students slowly. Each of them seems anxious about what he might say. So, the young ex-mercenary gives a short sigh.

"Being a Huntsman or Huntress, some of you might believe that it's romantic. Some of you believe that it's all about honor, diligence, wisdom, strength." Port gives an affirmative nod. Obsidian continues as he pushes off the desk and steps up to the front of the class. "But strength is the only thing that matters. Power is what it takes to survive and win. Your life and the life of the people around you are at stake. But if you don't have the power to protect yourself or others, then we all lose. Always ask yourself this question, are you strong enough to protect what you want to protect?"

Professor Port raises a brow at Obsidian before he turns to the shocked class. Many of them really are paying close attention now. The short man turns back to the Assistant Huntsman as the teen sits down on Port's desk again.

"Yes… well, allow me to tell a story to enlighten all of you! A tale of a young, handsome man…. Me! When I was just a boy…"

Obsidian focuses in on Weiss and Ruby and lets Port fall into nothing more than silence. He could clearly see Weiss's face change to interest in the young leader of team RWBY. Ruby, on the other hand, smiles as she writes on a paper.

"… despite smelling of cabbages, my grandfather was a wise man. 'Peter,' he told me…"

Obsidian tunes in again for a few moments before he once again decides to tune Port out into nothingness. The teen moves his gaze to the RWBY team, seeing Ruby holding up a paper along with Yang and Blake giggling along with something. Weiss, on the other hand, is less than entertained as she frowns deeply at her team leader.

"Ahem! In the end, the Beowolf was no match for my sheer tenacity, and I returned to my village with the beast in captivity and my head held high, celebrated as a hero!"

The class claps politely as Obsidian annoyedly looks over at Professor Port. What a strange old man. Obsidian shrugs, not bothering to stop the strange man.

"The moral of this story? A true Huntsman must be honorable!"

Obsidian finds his gaze falling on Ruby, with an apple on a book balancing only by her finger while making a stupid face.

"A true Huntsman must be dependable!"

Next Ruby has her arms curled up under her head as she naps. The first class of the year and Ruby is napping already.

"A true Huntsman must be strategic, well-educated, and wise!"

Ruby is quite obviously picking her nose. Obsidian's gaze finds the W in RWBY, she was almost shaking with rage.

"So, who among you believes themselves to be the very embodiment of these traits?"

Weiss immediately rose to her feet and raised her arm, "I do, sir!"

Professor Port huffs as he turns to a cage in the room and the pudgy man gestures to it. "Well if that is the case, let's find out! Step forward and let us begin!"

Weiss nods as she steps up in the open center area of the classroom, holding Myrtenaster. Obsidian limps off to the side and settles himself at the end of the first row in the classroom. He crosses his arms as best he could with his broken left arm.

Yang thrusts her fist in the air as she cheers, "Goooo, Weiss!"

Blake gives a small smile as she waves a small RWBY flag, "fight well!"

And Ruby gives a cheerful, "yeah! Represent Teeeeeam RWBY!"

Weiss clearly flinches at that and frowns as she readies her weapon. Professor Port looks around, giving a smug face before he pulls his axe up. The pudgy professor brings the axe's blade down and cuts open the lock on a cage. A Boarbatusk comes barreling out of the iron prison straight at the young heiress.

"Then let the match begin!"

Weiss is able to duck out of the way in a roll before she turns swiftly. Weiss slowly circles the Boarbatusk with her weapon at the ready. The Grimm also circles as those beady, blood red eyes study its opponent.

"Didn't quite expect that, did you, Miss Schnee?" Port smugly comments as he stands away from the fight.

"Careful Weiss!" Ruby hollers out in encouragement to the white-haired teen.

Obsidian looks from the redhead to the girl in white, he could see her features contort into frustration. Weiss adjusts Myrtenaster and lunges forward with her blade digging into the thick armor of the Boarbatusk. But with a quick jerk of its head, the Grimm deflects her blade and catches it between the tusks.

"Come on, Weiss! Hang in there!" Ruby cheers again. To which Obsidian notes that she grinds her teeth once again at what her team leader says.

"Oh-ho! What will you do without your weapon?" Port looks over and nods at Obsidian, who takes a moment before rolling his eye and nodding back. The young ex-mercenary stands and waits with a clear line to get between Weiss and the Grimm.

Weiss, on the other hand, loses focus entirely and glares over at Ruby. But that mistake would prove costly as she is rammed head-on by the staunch Grimm. Obsidian lets out a sigh as he prepares to move. He puts almost all his weight on his right leg and keeps a close eye on what Weiss does next.

Weiss struggles to get up but she can catch the Boarbatusk turning once again to charge at her. She's able to roll out of the way this time, sprinting for her weapon and getting into her ready stance.

"Weiss! Go for its belly! It has no armor underneath-" Ruby yells out her advice.

"SHUT UP! Stop telling me what to do!" Weiss's icy blue eyes turn to glare at her partner for but a moment to get the point across. Obsidian catches how downtrodden that makes the little Rose but moves his attention to Weiss and the Boarbatusk.

The Boarbatusk leaps and rolls in mid-air. It begins to spin and speed up rapidly before landing. The small spinning ball of Grimm launches itself straight at Weiss, who uses a Glyph to block the Boarbatusk. The spinning ball slows and loses its force slowly but Weiss isn't done. The Huntress-in-training leaps back and lands on another Glyph.

She casts another Glyph and it flips the Boarbatusk, the Glyph that Weiss stood on changes from black to blue and sends her sailing. Weiss skewers the Boarbatusk as it gives a short squeal and only a moment later, the beast is silent and limp.

"Bravo! It appears we are indeed in the presence of a true Huntress-in-training! I'm afraid that's all the time we have for today, be sure to cover the readings and stay vigilant! Dismissed!"

Obsidian watches the back of Weiss as she stands and dusts herself off. The white-haired girl quickly glares at her partner before storming out of the classroom. Clearly, the so-called perfect princess is less than pleased with her leader. Obsidian inwardly shrugs, this will be a problem for them to handle. Not him.

Ruby, on the other hand, has a deep frown across her lips as she watches her partner storm away. Jaune points out the obvious to the group, "what's wrong with her, huh?" The uneasy looks from the rest of team JNPR and team RWBY do give some validation to Obsidian's theory. He inwardly shrugs as he watches Ruby chase after her partner.

The remainder of teams JNPR and RWBY make their way out of the classroom together, Obsidian stands by Professor Port as the pudgy man packs up his supplies. "Thank you, Mister Slade for your assistance today. Perhaps next time, you should avoid some touchy subjects when you're teaching."

"I just said what they should hear. Not what they want to." Obsidian frowns deeply at the man. That crimson gaze does little to unnerve the confident little man.

"Yes, but sometimes it is better for the students to figure it out on their own." Port gathers his supplies under his arm and turns fully to the young man. "Danger is part of their job and they must learn that first hand."

"And let them realize just how unprepared they are for this world?" Obsidian bites out, his frown turns to a dangerous scowl as he takes a half step closer to Port. "Are you trying to get them killed?"

Port gives a lopsided grin as before he starts laughing, "hahahahaha! So, the stories of you really are exaggerations. It appears, Mister Slade, that you care more for your fellow man than some others might suggest."

Obsidian's scowl softens for a moment before he looks down at the professor, "it's a truth that people have decided. Not me." With that, the teen turns on his heel and limps out of the classroom.

"Hmph… really, some children. Don't you think, Professor Peach?" Port turns to the back of the class, his eyes falling on the pinkish doctor.

Peach stands up from the rear of the stands, it was almost like she wasn't there until she revealed herself. The doctor gives a polite smile to Port as she walks down the stands. "He's troubled, but he has strong beliefs that have kept him alive. So, he'll obviously not understand if others follow the different beliefs."

"Yes, well, those beliefs might just get him in trouble among the other students. I was trying to prevent such conflict." Port retorts, turning toward the door Obsidian walked through just a few moments ago. "There will be others who believe that a challenge to their pride as warriors. Especially from the Apprentice Huntsman of this year."

"I can see that I will have my work cut out when it comes to that young man…." Peach's lips purse together in anxious anticipation.

"Yes, yes you will." Port begins walking out of the class with Peach joining him, "what class do they have next?"

Peach lets out a soft sigh, "Glynda's class."

"Oh boy…."

…..

Obsidian limps down the hall slowly, as he checks his scroll. Next up is, Glynda's class. Great, Goodwitch gets to hate on him the entire time. He knows exactly what she thinks of him, he's a nuisance. A monster. A killer. Someone that doesn't belong here. Hell, Obsidian feels that way too sometimes. But then he recalls Ozpin gave him a chance, an opportunity to become someone better.

A sudden rough shove on his broken arm side pulls Obsidian from his thoughts. His gaze turns up to find Cardin Winchester, standing there with the rest of his team. Blocking the hallway for him.

"Can I help you, Cardin?" Obsidian lazily asks. He moves his weight over more to his right side, turning his head just barely so he could use his peripheral vision to watch the rest of team CRDL.

"Yeah, you can help us. _Apprentice Huntsman._ How'd you kill that Grimm in the forest?" Cardin steps up closer with his arms crossed, a stupid and arrogant smirk across his lips.

Obsidian raises a brow, "I killed it, so why does it matter to you?"

"I don't think you did," Cardin steps up to the slightly shorter teen and jabs his index finger into Obsidian's chest. "I think you paid your way into this school. And now you're looking down on us about being strong? That's real pathetic, for a liar." Cardin nods his head at two teammates, Russel and Dove move in to Obsidian's sides. "So just tell us what _really_ happened, coward."

"You're ridiculous. Why don't you just take your team and go to class? Maybe use that head for something other than just empty space." Obsidian lets a small grin form on his lips as Cardin frowns, he seemed ready to start something.

Cardin glares at Obsidian, there isn't too much of a height difference between the two. But Cardin is wider. Yet Obsidian stares back at the other boy, that lone, cold and sharp crimson eye turn those steel nerves to jelly in a few moments.

"Come on, let's go guys." Cardin seems to have noticed something behind Obsidian, but the ex-mercenary just keeps his eye on the boys.

"Seems everyone is having some form of a problem here on the first day…" Ozpin suddenly speaks up as he approaches Obsidian.

"Team CRDL? They're spouting nonsense." Obsidian turns to his employer as fast as a half-crippled boy can. "They're looking for a fight they can't win."

Ozpin chuckles a bit as he gestures for Obsidian to follow him as the older man takes a sip from his coffee mug, "yes, I suppose. Granted, they do not know that. But here is where people your age are supposed to grow and mature and learn together."

"Normal students who deserve it, yes. Those guys should get their heads out from the clouds."

"Come now, Mister Slade. They might be abrasive but there are others in your year. You should try to be more friendly. You won't get far if you isolate yourself you know. I want you to be a normal student here and grow into someone that deserves it. It is what I offered you in the first place after all."

"…" Obsidian shakes his head; he will never understand Ozpin. The man does strange things, such as recruit him and Ruby Rose. Ruby is 2 years too young for this school but is made a team leader of her older peers. She shouldn't be ready for such a responsibility. And yet Ozpin put her in that position.

Obsidian, on the other hand, is a criminal, entirely guilty of crimes that should get him sentenced to death. Yet Ozpin decides to get him pardoned and brings him to Beacon. So, he's not 'alone and isolated?' Or is it because he wants to use him, use his skills and experience. Then again, that thought did cross his mind. The Apprentice Huntsman role gives Ozpin the freedom to send Obsidian onto missions.

"Mister Slade," speaking of Ozpin, it seems Obsidian and the headmaster were outside Glynda's classroom for a few moments now. "Perhaps after school, you should go speak with Peach. She'd be more than happy to continue your conversation."

Obsidian merely gives him an empty nod, he pretty much forgot about that woman until now. He thought she wouldn't want to tarnish her reputation. At a certain point, things are too broken to fix.

Ozpin nods before he leaves, Obsidian limps his way into the classroom. Glynda stops her lecture to give a sharp glare to the teen. Obsidian lazily waves her off as he steps around to sit at Glynda's desk. His left leg was getting there, but it was still awkward to walk.

"As I was saying, aura management is vital to your survival. As many of you know, it fuels your shield and fuels your semblances. But depending on your semblance, it could be much more difficult to manage your aura."

Glynda scans the class, each student was already taught this kind of stuff obviously. Most of them seemed bored. "But as Huntresses and Huntsmen, you must understand how to use your aura as efficiently as possible. So, let us begin with one on one spars."

That got the students' attention. Many of them seem to be very eager to show off. Glynda looks over at Obsidian then, "do you wish to participate, _Slade_?"

Glynda has hated that boy since the first time she saw him on the news. There is no excuse for such a deeply hateful person that seems to thrive off violence. The news has always shown what she believes. The Shadow Demon, a young man with no soul or heart. A teen with blood dripping from his hands. And someone who deserves to be put to death for the lives he has ruined. But she must accept Ozpin's decision, even if she is fervently against allowing such a dangerous individual to interact with the next generation of Huntsmen and Huntresses.

Obsidian shrugs as he rises from the seat and takes a place next to Glynda in the center of the auditorium. That changes some students' minds in going first. Some of them who watched the video were almost scared of how he could take down something like that irregular Goliath.

A hand is thrust quickly though before Glynda even turns back to the rest of the students, Cardin Winchester was first and eager. Obsidian inwardly rolls his eye as the tall boy struts down the stairs to the center of the auditorium.

"As I said before, maintaining and managing your aura is vital to victory. This will follow tournament rules; once your aura goes into the red, you've lost." Glynda turns and steps away from the center of the stage as she taps on a tablet. Two bars are brought up to display to the students.

Obsidian shows his aura is already half drained and in the yellow while Cardin's is full green. Obsidian looks up to their aura then back at Glynda, "I will be fine, Professor."

Cardin's lips curl up into an arrogant grin as he brandishes his mace as Obsidian, on the other hand, does not prepare his weapon. "If you insist, I will only step in once either of your aura is drained to the limitation."

Cardin brings his mace back as he adjusts his stance. The large brownish orange-haired teen turns sideways to the ashen-haired boy, his mace at the ready. Obsidian doesn't adjust his stance at all.

"Kick his ass Obsidian!" Nora raises her fist eagerly as she stands up, Ren, on the other hand, shakes his head and pulls Nora back down.

"Be careful!" Ruby hollers out, clearly a little worried over the injured teen.

"Fight well!" Blake politely cheers.

"Show him who's boss!" Yang cheers at the end.

"Are both of you ready?" Glynda looks over at Cardin first who gives a quick nod as he grins. Obsidian gives a nod as Glynda's gaze falls on him and she nods in return. "Then… begin!"

Cardin rushes in first, he's much slower than Obsidian expects him to be. Obsidian tests the movements of his left arm for a moment or two, knowing the other boy couldn't get to him that fast, and it seems like it was healing quickly but he still couldn't really use this arm here.

Obsidian watches as Cardin winds up his mace in a big, easily read attack. Obsidian pushes out his injured leg and uses his good leg to keep all his weight and balance on. The ashen-haired teen gets low to the ground and turns his body, letting his left-side face Cardin.

It takes a split second for Obsidian to twist his body and transfer the weight between his legs. All in one clean motion, Obsidian delivers a powerful jab to Cardin in the stomach. Forcing the boy to keel over from the strike and stumble back away from the shorter teen.

Cardin grunts as he pulls himself together and puts his mace on his shoulder, he full on glares daggers at Obsidian. Said teen stood there calmly before rolling his eye, "in a fight, it isn't just skill, strength, speed, or aura that decides the victor. Grimm fight off instinct and nothing else. Most of the time. But when you're fighting another human, it's different. What matters is how smart you are."

Cardin catches onto the insult and charges again at Obsidian, trying to swing his mace down against the ex-mercenary again. But this time Obsidian steps into Cardin's stance while he uses his palm and strikes out against the bottom of Cardin's mace.

The two fight a battle of strength, Cardin grits his teeth as he tries to push down with both hands against Obsidian's single hand. While Obsidian didn't seem to be putting much effort in at all. Obsidian's deadly crimson gaze meets Cardin's furious glare, "And when you win the war of minds, you win the battle too."

With that, Obsidian delivers a quick kick to Cardin's ribs, which forces the younger boy to lose focus and grunt in pain. Obsidian then grabs one of Cardin's wrists and yanks down hard, bringing the mace down to Obsidian's side but also forcing Cardin off balance and stumbling forward.

This lets Obsidian drive his knee into Cardin's stomach much harder than a swift kick did. "OOF!" Cardin stumbles once again and trips over his own feet as he falls face first into the ground.

"And never blindly fight someone, you should try to get information on them first. How they fight, who they are. And that will make it easier to beat them. You didn't even try to take advantage of my blind spots or my injured arm and leg."

Cardin growls back at the Apprentice Huntsman as he rises to his feet and collects his mace. Cardin doesn't listen to Obsidian's advice and rushes the boy again, yet this time the leader of team CRDL swings his mace horizontally.

Obsidian dodges back and is forced to dodge again as Cardin brings his hefty mace around once again. A large and heavy mace is a perfect weapon for someone as blunt and stupid as Cardin. Cardin's attacks continue to push Obsidian back as a wide grin form on the burnt orange-haired teen's face, "Come on! You gonna keep running?!"

Obsidian rolls behind Cardin, gritting his teeth as he feels his injured leg protest the rough treatment. But the ex-mercenary pushes through and draws his arm blade quickly as he turns and blocks Cardin's mace.

"Now you're gonna use your weapon, huh?" Cardin's smirk widens, but it quickly turns to a frown as he feels Obsidian push back.

"Once again, don't blindly fight." Obsidian's eye seems to glow as Cardin's mace is suddenly parried and pushed to the side. Obsidian reels his arm back and jabs at Cardin's chest, his aura blocks the blade aimed straight for his heart but takes a powerful hit. The class watches Cardin's aura drops significantly from the one strike.

Cardin stumbles back but Obsidian is almost immediately on him. Another jab to Cardin's torso forces the orange-haired boy back again and drops his aura into the yellow. But Obsidian keeps up his onslaught as Cardin tries to use his mace to block. But Obsidian manages to strike out with grazing strikes on Cardin's right shoulder, left forearm, left wrist, right waist.

Each strike that nicks at Cardin slowly wither away at his aura. The class watches as his aura drains from the yellow, get dangerously close to red. Cardin cries out as he lefts his mace above his head and brings it down.

Obsidian slides into Cardin's stance and grabs the shaft of the mace. Obsidian rears his head back and actually headbutts Cardin which sends the boy crashing to the ground hard. Cardin's aura finally hits the red with just a sliver left with the boy groaning on his back. Yet even if his opponent is down, Obsidian begins to march over to the downed teen with his blade ready.

"That is enough, Mister Slade." Glynda steps in between Obsidian and Cardin, those emerald eyes seemed to glint with hatred as she stares down the Apprentice Huntsman. Obsidian stops and glares back. It was like Glynda is daring Obsidian to do something, anything really, to provoke her. But Obsidian keeps up his glare for a few more moments before taking a deep breath, the teen turns and sits down again at Glynda's desk.

"Now students, as you can see; Mister Winchester's aura is now in the red. In a tournament style match, the official would call the match. Now, it might be the start of the school year, but the Vytal Festival will be taking place a few months from now. So, I suggest you all prepare if you're interested in participating."

Obsidian can see the idea of bringing excitement to a few students among the class, others seem less enthusiastic at the prospect of fighting skilled opponents like Obsidian Slade or Pyrrha Nikos.

Cardin collected himself from the floor, using his mace to support himself, and marches back to his seat. The leader of team CRDL scowled down at Obsidian as the one-eyed boy lazily scanned the class and didn't pay attention to whatever Goodwitch was talking about.

…..

Obsidian rises from Glynda's seat and stretches, cracking his back a bit before the teen flinches as pain flares up in his ribs.

"You okay there, big guy?" Obsidian furrows his brow when he turns to find Yang with one hand on her hip, the other hand holding her school supplies to her hip.

"Fine, ribs are aching a bit." Obsidian quickly moves his gaze away from her, checking if he's forgotten something from Goodwitch's desk.

A sudden arm over his shoulders pulls him into Yang which earns a grunt from Obsidian, "come on, some food in you might help." She grins up at him before releasing him.

"Yes, but I-" Obsidian tries to turn to Glynda, knowing she might have something for him to do or she might want to chew him out. But Yang grabs his good arm and tugs him out of the classroom.

"No buts! Come on, let's go get some food. Everyone else is dying to know more about you!"

"Huh?" Obsidian is genuinely confused. With no real relationships in the past 9 years, friends or otherwise, Obsidian is out of his field of expertise.

"Yeah, come on. Let's go."

"I… uhh,.." Obsidian struggles to get the words out as the thought of talking to people begin to plague his mind. The words, monster, killer, demon, abomination begins to well up in his mind. Yang suddenly stopping them both, bring him out of his thoughts as he stands there like a deer in the headlights.

"Don't be shy, everyone's excited to talk to you! You fought that Grimm all on your own for all of us!" Yang gives him a bright smile as she grabs his shoulders, "you're gonna be alright, I promise!"

Obsidian then notices that they are outside the cafeteria, "uh… okay…" His chest feels like someone is standing on it while his voice is caught under a lump in his throat. The students' conversations seem to die down as Obsidian and Yang enter the cafeteria.

All of them are curious over the Apprentice Huntsman, especially after he fought Cardin and beat him down. While injured. Obsidian feels like he's suffocating as he listens to whispered conversations around him.

'Oh my god, it's that guy.'

'Oh hey, the teacher's favorite.'

'I bet he bought his way in.'

'There's no way he got in here legit.'

'Apprentice Huntsman? He doesn't deserve it. Look at him.'

Maybe not. Maybe someone like him really doesn't deserve it. With what he's done. Obsidian can see it now. The faces of the people he's killed. The lives he's ended. The families ruined.

A sudden hand slapping his back brought Obsidian out of his thoughts, "hey, don't listen to them." Yang gives Obsidian a toothy grin, "I saw what you did, you deserve what you have. Plus, you saved my lil sis!"

Yang pats Obsidian's shoulder and pulls him over to her team and team JNPR's table.

"Hey! It's Obsidian!" Ruby is the first to notice the pair as she waves, a small smile stretching across her lips.

Jaune, Pyrrha, Blake, and Ren give Obsidian a polite wave. Nora on the other hand cheerfully gets up and suddenly hugs Obsidian. Weiss doesn't give the teen much in terms of a greeting, but merely a quick nod.

"Hey man, how's it going?" Jaune gives Obsidian a pat on his back as the ex-mercenary takes a seat at the end of team JNPR's side of the table.

"I… am okay." Obsidian's eye darts back and forth among the members of the table.

Ruby smiled at him when he first arrived yet now, she seems more tamed. Obsidian turns his gaze to Weiss. Seeing the pair on the shaky ground earlier did raise some questions and the tension still seems to linger. Obsidian might just-wait no. Why does he care?

"Hey, Obsidian!" Nora's voice breaks Obsidian out from his thoughts.

"Sorry, yes?" Obsidian settles his forearms on the table awkwardly.

"Yes! Pancakes are totally meant to be for every meal!"

"What? No," Obsidian furrows his brows, "pancakes are meant for breakfast, isn't it?"

"He's right, Nora." Ren chimes in calmly as he eats his lunch.

"Aww… but it totally could be!"

"No, Nora. Just eat your lunch." Pyrrha cuts in. The red and gold warrior turns her gaze over to Obsidian. "Obsidian, why don't you go grab something to eat as well?"

"Yeah! Come on, Obsidian!" Yang pats Obsidian on the back suddenly, which urges him to follow along with her.

"Why is everyone touching me?" Obsidian's shoulder slouch as he limps along.

"Eh, it's just a friendly kind of thing? I think?"

"You think?"

"Yeah! I don't know…"

Obsidian scoffs softly, "why not?"

"I just… don't know. It's a human thing, y'know?"

"Hm…" Obsidian just works on auto-pilot, following Yang's lead as they get their food. He doesn't care at all what they are getting. His mind churned slowly, just a human thing, huh? Obsidian supposes that it is just because he isn't really human. An abomination. A monster. A demon. He isn't meant to understand humans. He isn't meant to be normal.

"Hey, don't be so moody! Come on, let's eat." Yang elbows him a tad, a small grin across her lips as the pair walks back to the table. Yang joins her team on one side while Obsidian settles himself a little further down, next to Jaune again.

Jaune nudges Obsidian as the ex-mercenary begins to eat, "so dude, we were all just talking about what school we went to before. What about you?"

Obsidian pauses and mills through his thoughts for a few odd moments. "I-uh… never went to one." Obsidian awkwardly scratches the back of his head as he catches the odd stares. "Yeah, I was taught by a band of bandits. Taught to be a true warrior. Taught to seek strength. Ozpin saw it and he decided to invite me to the school."

"That's… SO COOL!" Nora cheers with her fists high in the air and a pancake in her mouth. Isn't it lunch?

"So, you were a rogue?" Pyrrha cants her head to the side as she finishes up her lunch.

"Sort of. We didn't kill anyone. We stole from people that were already dead. I saved as many as I could." Obsidian pauses for a few moments with a frown, "I… uh yeah." Obsidian coughs awkwardly as he looks down and shovels food into his mouth.

"Hm… I suppose that would mean you weren't necessarily thieves or killers." Ren took several moments to think. The young boy holds his chin with one hand as he keeps the other under his elbow. "but you were trained by them? I haven't seen others that fight like you do."

"Yeah, like a super cool badass ninja!" Ruby stands up with an ecstatic look on her face. "Or like an awesome rogue guy that saves the day!"

"Huh?" Obsidian furrows his brows in confusion as he looks among the other students. Obsidian's shoulders slouch as the words settle in, "hm."

"Well… hey! Where were you born?" Jaune clearly is uncomfortable with the sudden shift of atmosphere as Obsidian begins to dwell on thoughts from when he ran with that bandit tribe.

The sudden change in the topic does worse than when Obsidian begins thinking of the bandit tribe. "I don't want to talk about it." Is Obsidian's sharp and deadly reply as he snaps out at Jaune. That single crimson eye turns Jaune's nerves to jelly as he looks down.

"I'm sorry man…" Jaune purses his lips together as he looks up at Ruby for help.

"So, Obsidian! Do you have any hobbies?"

Obsidian purses his lips and looks over to Ruby, the ex-mercenary rubs the back of his head awkwardly. "I draw."

"Oh? What do you draw?" Blake tilts her head to the side as she tunes into the conversation, her… ribbon seems to have twitched.

"Places I've been to."

"Oh cool! Can I see?!" Nora rises to her feet with a wide smile on her lips.

"Uhh… sure." Obsidian reaches behind himself, pulling up his shirt and pulling out a small book with leather covering. Obsidian places the book on the table before he straightens out his shirt. He passes the book over to Nora first.

"Wow! You're really good!" She notes as the orange-haired girl flips through page after page. "So, are these all places you've been to?"

"Yeah, some of them are somewhat difficult to do. I only have a pencil to draw them."

Ruby speeds over to team JNPR's side of the table to look at the book, all of them huddled over to get a good look at Obsidian's drawings. "That's so cool! Is there any place you haven't gone, and you want to draw?"

"Not that I can think of. But the myths about the god brothers. Both had their own realms. And I think it would be great to draw. If they were real." Obsidian gives a shrug as he starts to eat again.

"That's really awesome. Maybe we'll find it!" Yang finally chimes in after she finishes her food.

"Hm... maybe."

…..

Peach types away diligently at her console. The screen shows the profile of Obsidian Slade; the Shadow Demon. It is still difficult to understand that someone with his reputation is so young. Peach lets out a sigh, whenever she thinks of this particular student she is struck with apprehension.

That story Obsidian shared was something that unnerved her. An orphan with nothing left having been abused like that is a hideous act and inhumane at the best. The story itself is too detailed and the way that usually calm teen portrayed it made it more believable. The way he shook with fury and his lone eye lit up with pain.

'Possibly unstable, anti-social, socially inept, possible bipolar personalities.' Were some things she wrote up on his file.

The doctor sighs again as she leans back in her chair, picking up her coffee mug and looking out the nearby window of her office. It's dark out and she should wrap up soon. She shakes her head and sits back up, typing away at her computer.

The door to her office opens suddenly as the person of her thoughts walks in. That single eye roams the room for a few moments before it meets her gaze. "Uhm… hello, Professor Peach."

"Hello, Obsidian. I wasn't expecting you this late." Peach purses her lips and leans back in her seat after she minimizes Obsidian's file. "Can I help you with anything? Please, take a seat."

"I…" Obsidian moves over and settles into one of the chairs in front of Peach's desk. He takes a moment while his gaze is held to the floor. "I was talking to some other students today."

"Well, that's good-"

"Is it? I'm an anomaly. I'm their age but I'm so different. I don't understand what they talk about sometimes. 'Human things. Human sayings.' Normal people's lives don't include being adopted into a bandit tribe at 8."

"You were adopted into a bandit tribe?" Peach's voice is filled with surprise as her finely trimmed brows furrow together. "Is that after the orphanage?"

Obsidian fiddles with his fingers as he sits there for a few moments, perhaps it wasn't a good idea for Peach to have brought that up after all. "…yes. They found me a few hundred meters away."

"I see… and they taught you how to fight?"

"They taught me how to live." Obsidian's voice immediately cuts in as that intimidate gazes focuses on Peach. "Strength is the difference between death and life. Whoever is the stronger individual in the body will win. No matter what."

Clearly, this is some form of indoctrination. He doesn't know anything other than the tribe. He doesn't know that what he was doing was wrong. But he seems to understand now at least. "But what about in mind and spirit? Because the body can be as tough as iron but if the mind isn't, then any person will collapse."

"Mind and spirit are illusory. Strength is crucial in body alone."

"But if that is how you feel, then why are you here? I'm sure we can't teach you anything or help you train your body. Ozpin himself is the only person that could challenge you in combat. You could even go toe to toe Professor Goodwitch. So why are you here?"

"I…" Obsidian breaks eye contact with the doctor, his gaze moves to his hands. Why did he come here? Does he want to atone? But what does that mean? He wants his spirit and mind cleansed of what he's done? No, but what was it that brought him here? Ozpin invited him personally yes but how was Obsidian convinced?

"I can give you what I believe the reason for you coming here is. Ozpin did not just invite you here for nothing. He saw your skills and experience." Peach leans forward, planting her elbows on her desk. Her lips curl down into a frown as she sighs. "But he also saw a young man with too many scars to count and a soul so bruised that the same young man can't recognize it anymore. He wants this place to be a place of healing for you. To heal and strengthen your mind and spirit. Because it isn't just about strength in body."

Obsidian's lips purse together tight as he didn't have anything to say to that. Ozpin offered him a place here to atone, yes. But how would he even go about that? The young man lets out a sigh, "well, about what I was saying before…"

"Of course, what do you need to know?"


End file.
